I will admit it. I’m an instant coffee drinker. I know I’m not the only one in America, but I’m one of the few who will admit to it. I drink instant coffee because it’s easy to make, but also because I like my coffee fairly mild. I do have a strong preference for Taster’s Choice and Nescafé – so I do have some standards of sorts, but clearly they are not very high.
I first heard of Starbucks VIA last May when I won a raffle for a Starbucks gift card and the card came with a 3 individual samples of French Roast instant coffee. I tried them and they were great. The coffee has a rich flavor, stronger and more developed than any instant coffee I drink, but without the bitterness of the real thing. As far as instant coffees go, it’s by far my favorite.
But… it’s expensive. Ridiculously expensive, about 83-cents per cup, though if you buy it bulk you can get it down to 60-cents a cup. A cup of Taster’s Choice costs less than 10-cents by comparison. So needless to say, I haven’t been buying it.
Soon after I received my sample pack, I saw VIA at Safeway, and not too long after that, at Grocery Outlet. But even at Grocery Outlet it was too expensive, though I don’t remember exactly what the price was. Today I noticed that the 3-cup packages are down to 99-cents (though they expired in June). 33-cents a cup is not too bad, so I bought a few packages to have it as the occasional treat. Lately, I’m drinking tea anyway.
The biggest problem with VIA, besides the price, is all the needless packaging. I guess they need it to make you think you are getting more from your money than you really are. It’s unlikely that anyone seeing a $40 7-oz jar of VIA placed next to a $10 jar of Taster Choice would reach towards the former. But all of this means a lot of wasted materials which come at a significant environmental cost.
I’m sure that Starbucks did a lot of market research before introducing this product, but I just don’t see who it would appeal to.
We went to Con Pane last February (2012) when we visited San Diego for the Democratic Convention. Our friend Ralph took us there for breakfast one morning – and we had enough bread leftover for lunch! I got the Sweet Bread Baker’s Plate ($4), consisting of 3 enormous slices of fresh bread (your choice), served with butter, fruit preserves and creme cheese. The bread was delicious. Probably my favorite was the Pain au Levain, your basic country white bread – with butter and jam it was just heavenly. The Kalamata Olive bread was probably my least favorite, but I’m not a huge olive fan. I recommend that you get a bread plate to share – one slice is definitely enough. We also shared a couple of pastries, but it was too long ago and I can’t recall what they were. My recollection is that they were good, but not impressive. Coffee was good, and the place quite nice. All in all, I’d go back.
I’m back from our semi-annual library sale. That’s where I get most of my cookbooks (pretty much all on regional and international cuisines), but this year there were slim pickings. I just got three, but might have scored with the first one:
I found these at Grocery Outlet (in San Leandro) for $1.50, and I figured they were worth a try. I don’t think I’d buy them again.
I came across this fish yesterday at Grocery Outlet. I was a bit reluctant to buy it because it was only $4 for a 2lb bag – at least one third the cost of most fish I buy. But it was the only fish I could find at that store that didn’t come from China or Vietnam (instead, it was wild caught in the US), so I figured it was worth the risk. I think it was.
Recent Comments