The name says it all: “road” in Ital­ian; it’s the cof­fee you have in a rush. And, the more impor­tant thing is: it’s the cheap­est cof­fee you can get with “Star­bucks” in your cups. It, of course, hints it offers the qual­ity on par with their sig­na­ture brews. Or does it?

The pack I stashed under my keyboard.

Star­bucks unveiled VIA in Febu­rary. Said it’s been “devel­op­ment for 20 years.” Well, they must be very seri­ous about it. There’re some pos­i­tive reviews around. I’ve been curi­ous about it even I don’t have any expec­ta­tion for instant cof­fee at all. And, as of Sep­tem­ber 30th, it’s on sale nation­wide in Star­bucks stores.

I actu­ally got my sam­ple over the week­end but kept it till today. I think the office envi­ron­ment is a bet­ter place to repli­cate “the great cof­fee in an instant” expe­ri­ence. On the week­end, I’d rather fid­dle with my Hario drip­ping or siphon brew­ing system.

Hip­ster took a bite of VIA…

As you can see, I shared my only pack with “Hip­ster” whom I’ve had for a “pet” for months. Hip­ster is from China, being fed on bam­boo all the time since I pinned him up there… I treated him this spe­cialty as a breakfast-after snack. From his glit­ter­ing eyes as you can see in the pic­ture, VIA seems very promising…

“Tear the pack­age and pour the cof­fee in the mug. Add hot water. Enjoy.” Its no-brainer instant cof­fee SOP. So, how is it?

This pack labeled “Colom­bia, Medium.” Well, it’s all bit­ter in first sip­ping. It may be ascribed to the sweet taste left on my taste bud after the multi-grain break­fast loaf. After a few more sips, the bit­ter­ness was get­ting mild. Then, acid­ity came out, sweet­ness, medium body and even a nutty hint. VIA’s some­what clean after­taste is even surprising.

This is an amaz­ing cup of instant cof­fee: this is some­thing I’d go for if I must have instant cof­fee. I won­der: why would they care spend­ing money on all the stores and over-roasting beans if they can make such a great instant coffee?