Modern times call for modern processes, and Starbucks has invested in 21st-century facilities and equipment to produce a modern, soluble coffee that puts the old instants to shame.
When you think “instant coffee,” you may have memories that you’d like to forget. Somehow, even when “freeze-dried” coffees came out, they just didn’t measure up to the freshly brewed flavor of the same brand you enjoyed in a drip format. Often, these instant coffees lacked flavor or were bitter, and it seemed like they never dissolved completely. For sure, instant coffee is “so last century” (actually it was invented in 1890), but all that has changed with Starbucks’ latest soluble coffees—like its VIA Ready Brew brand—made in a new, modern plant with sophisticated continuous process controls and packaging.