Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has finely crafted his publicity around yesterday's unveiling of Starbucks VIA, the instant coffee product to be sold at Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) outlets starting next month. In a blog post at the Huffington Post, Schultz wrote that "the brands that endure are those that adapt to the changing needs of their customers, without forsaking their core values," and that his company believes "introducing a paradigm-changing and better-tasting instant coffee is a way to bring quality and value to the mass market, and to turn on a whole new set of coffee drinkers to the Starbucks brand."My initial reaction was one of incredulity; but I was surprised that many commenters seemed excited about the product. And in yesterday's taste test conducted by WalletPop and BloggingStocks staffers in New York City, the general reaction was that the product tastes good; and was attractively packaged. Will customers actually buy it? I wondered. The answer to that is yet to be determined, but I can't help wondering if all the pundits are wrong.
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