instant coffee

Since 1998, Starbucks has contracted with Kraft Foods to distribute its bagged coffee through grocery stores. In letters released to The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, Kraft fired yet another salvo in its bid to hold together this deal, which Starbucks now wants to undo.

Starbucks is kicking off the summer season by expanding its Via instant coffee beverage line. On Tuesday, the coffee chain announced that it has added an iced coffee version of VIA that people can make at home or while traveling. Consumers just need to mix the special blend of instant coffee...

I took my little boys to Starbucks (SBUX) this morning to witness the hype about its new instant coffee, Via, and we had plenty to see. A near-life size silhouette of a woman holding a packet of the company's new instant coffee greeted me on the door. A large, three-dimensional display took up...

In February, Starbucks (SBUX) invited AOL to taste a secret new product. In my capacity as a coffee and Starbucks expert, I got a few samples of the product, Via, and uploaded photographs to Flickr before giving my verdict. I'd almost forgotten that Via's national launch was coming up -- next...

I have, in my kitchen, an enormous bag of thick-cut, organic oatmeal, which cost me $28.60; $1.14 per pound. We eat it for breakfast three or four times a week, and I put the leftover oatmeal in our bread, and occasionally make a batch of granola or a fruit crisp. I can't be sure, but I think I...

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was putting on the hard sell in New York on Tuesday morning to a room full of investors and journalists as he unveiled a taste test of the company's new instant coffee, Via. Ever since the news broke that Starbucks was entering the instant coffee market as its next big...

My dad is 61 and he loves coffee; I credit his tastes for converting me to a coffee drinker as a high school junior. When he inherited a comfortable trust fund from my grandpa last year, the first thing he bought was an expensive coffee maker. Into which he (much to the horror of my sisters and...

A devilish tool of guerilla marketers is brand assassination. The idea is to associate a competitor's brand with something or someone consumers consider vile; examples might be photoshopping a picture of Osama bin Laden drinking a Miler Lite to distribute virally, or paying Mike Tyson to compliment...

I had a good ol' time making light of the Starbucks value meal -- err, "breakfast pairings" -- last week. And when Beth was invited to a special media event earlier this week, I actually rolled my eyes at the comment from AG: "I think they will announce that they have... "secretly replaced the fine...