(Stock photo) Starbucks' new instant coffee is called "Via," a name which is intended to convey mobility and has a V for Valencia, because Don Valencia made the coffee possible.
Behind Starbucks’ Instant-Coffee Rollout
SEPTEMBER 30, 2009Susan Berfield, BusinessWeek
As Howard Schultz contemplated introducing a Starbucks instant coffee last year, he knew he would face all sorts of skeptics — chief among them, his own employees.
Read the Business Week story: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33092510
Researchers at Starbucks have been tinkering with instant coffee for almost two decades. The quest began elsewhere, though, with an immunologist named Don Valencia, who liked to experiment with coffee in his free time. Working in his own lab, Valencia managed to create an extract that proved flavorful enough to impress Schultz.
