I’ve been talking about Iced Via by Starbucks for a whole month. This is not the same thing as the current versions of Via Ready Brew available at your local Starbucks store or local Costco and grocery store. Iced Via is a pre-sweetened version, designed to be consumed cold, dissolving easily. Each individual packet is described as “lightly sweetened” and I have heard gossip that this translates into 22 grams of sugar per packet. The single serving packet is designed to be mixed with 16 ounces of water.
More gossip, so I hear, is that this actually will start to sell in the stores some time in early July, though it is arriving now in stores for partners to try. Apparently it just arrives in the normal roasting plant order.
To be honest, I haven’t tried this new product though I’ve been very aware of it for some time. I think there could have been fun opportunities for Starbucks to do tasting events centered around Iced Via Ready Brew, but if there were such things (only in my wild imagination) I am unaware of it. I have heard of a few isolated packets of this product making its way into non-partner hands, though I am not so lucky.
I think I read one partner describe the product’s appearance as looking like ‘salt and pepper’ inside the packet since the coffee is dark, and the sugar is obviously white.
I’m hoping some of my readers have tried it and can weigh in on it. Also, I slightly wonder what kind of volume Starbucks expects to sell. When Via was launched, there had been quite a push to sell a large volume of the product. If Seattle’s summer doesn’t finally warm up soon, I’ll be sticking with a nice hot cup of coffee. May’s weather has been down right dreary for the most part. Iced coffee doesn’t even sound very good right now. And there is still the real question of whether we’ll be seeing baristas wearing Iced Via earrings!
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Update on May 30, 2010:
I finally got my hands on one single packet of Iced Via to try. Here’s my report: The partner who said to me, “This is Seattle’s answer to the South’s sweet tea” nailed it. It’s exactly what sweet tea would be when it grows up to be coffee. It is sweet, but not too sweet for me, and it is refreshing. It dissolves really well! I love it! I will definitely buy this in July, when it’s annoyingly hot, and complaining that at 80 degrees, I can’t stand it, and want to die. By July I’ll be begging for 60 degrees to come back to Seattle, as it is today. The photos from today’s taste test (sorry the quality is poor, I used my cell phone) –
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It came in our shipment yesterday, and it is especially tasty, and amazing mixed with soy milk–the instructions say to mix with 16 oz of milk or water, and they encourage partners to take extra packets home to let friends and family try, so hopefully you’ll be getting to try some soon!
I doubt we’ll have this for a bit. We didn’t get VIA until last summer and decaf this spring. We don’t sell much of it either way in our cafe. We are a “sit down w/ china and have coffee” cafe. I’m a bit intrigued though.
a little sweet for my taste :-/ I’ll just use the regular VIA Italian if I want to make iced coffee (I don’t used sweeteners or cream)
I haven’t tried it yet, I also am not sure how good the regular VIA sells in Tucson…I’ll have to ask. But, I will say this…it’s getting hot here in a hurry! Yesterday they thought it would get to 100 (was only 99) and they are saying the same for today. So, I’m sure it will be a welcome addition. I would probably try a traditional iced coffee first. I was never a fan of any of the iced lattes I have tried. I’ve had iced coffees before that were alright, but they were never from Starbucks.
I think the Iced VIA has greater earning potential outside of the Seattle area. Being able to mix it with cold water or milk will be a huge selling point in warmer markets.
Me, I’m a sweet tea fan so will be sticking with my Lipton packets baked in the sun with tons of ice, lemon and sugar.
Excellent points Clark. I’ve heard often that Seattle is a really unique coffee market. We drink a lot of warm brew, year round, and our cold drink sales are low compared to other areas. I will say this, this packaging is very effective: It makes me want to buy it and try it, and it does sound like a great idea! Another interesting point, though totally off-topic, my own anectdotal evidence is that we have a much higher rate of personal cup use here than other places …. though that’s totally off topic. Sorry for typos, in a hurry.
I want to try it and btw can’t wait for Gazebo Blend!
I love iced coffee!
I just did a Google Images search for “Iced Via” and about half of the images are from your blog Melody!
I’m excited about trying this, but not so sure about that much sugar – I probably would have preferred to have this unsweetened.
I asked around today, and none of the partners I know received any to try and couldn’t comment on it, sorry! I can’t wait to try it though.
Melody, can you confirm that figure for the sugar? 22 grams seems like a lot.
A tall,with whip, regular mocha has 26, according to the Starbucks website. http://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/espresso/caffe-mocha?foodZone=9999#size=46&milk=63&whip=125
I’m not a sugar-freak, but 22 grams of sugar doesn’t seem “lightly sweetened” by any means, nor in keeping with the healthy image Starbucks has been fighting for with the new (and tasteless) pastries.
Hi Mel, just tried the Iced Via- the blend is well balanced, not overly sweet with good coffee body and color, and stands up well to added soy. I will definitely become a user.
I tried some last night. I liked it (and liked it even more after I added a little vanilla syrup to it). It was tasty and pretty refreshing. I’ll have to try it with the soy.
How sweet was it? Well, it’s kinda hard to say if it was “lightly” sweetened, because of how people’s tastes vary. I think a lot of us who post here prefer black coffee, or coffee with just the lightest touch of sugar or cream, and would consider it rather sweet. However, consider that a great many customers love to put lots of sugar or sweetener into their coffee, and would consider this “lightly sweetened.”
I tried it this morning when it came it the plant order. It was okay. I enjoy my iced coffee unsweetened and black so I’m not quite the market Starbucks is looking for. The terrible thing about it is that it has no name. I don’t know what I’m drinking, is it Terraza (our in store iced coffee) or Colombia. The package says nowhere on it what region the coffee is from or if it is a blend. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it could be an African/Latin American Blend. I think there was a hint of citrus hiding behind the ultra sweet sugar and I could taste the acidity/liveliness of certain Latin American Coffees. Oh well, I guess coffee knowledge isn’t as important as it used to be, no one really cares what they drink as long as it has the siren on it.
Great silky body and well-balanced flavor. Not over-sweetened. Iced VIA is really looking like a big hit at our store, even in here in downtown Coffee City. If you don’t have access to hot water in your office, this is a day-maker.
It marks out as Via Columbia Iced, but you’re not the only one who tasted citrus notes. I suspect it may be a Columbia / Terraza blend.
I’m visiting Arizona now and could use an iced coffee! I am -not- one for hot weather.
Looking forward to trying iced Via!
Thanks for the info, I wasn’t the partner who marked it out, so good to know. It still is a bummer that it doesn’t say it anywhere on the package. I’m glad I’m not the only one who tasted citrus.
I aked in my regular store yesterday and they don’t have it yet….. a few of them were even unaware of it. Anyway, I hope to try it from somewhere soon but also concerned about the sugar amount…….or how sweet 🙁 it tastes.
There will be *another* nation-wide taste challenge utilizing the Iced Via. Expect ad campaigns and social media on the level of Frappuccino re-invention.
We get this in our roasting plant order tomorrow. Yay!
@crema_the_crop and @camspi – @Crema – Thanks for the tip! I wonder if Via will finally get its own twitter profile. It seems like there could be an official StarbucksVia voice! Probably takes too much resources though. @CamSpi – So far around here, no partners seem to be jumping up and down about Iced Via. I think the weather is just too dreary. My god we’re having a cold May. I want to wear scarves, drink hot Chai or hot coffee, and iced beverage is furthest thing from my brain.
@deniser – That’s an interesting comment about how sweet it is – I think it sounds like there is A LOT of sugar in it! I want to try it! (but I want Seattle weather to cooperate, please).
@deniser and @melody — that number (22g/packet) came from the back of the package. My mother is diabetic, so I’ve learned to check sugar content religiously on food items. I was shocked by that number, too.
@melody — you know how to contact me. Send a DM with addy (office/home/PO box/whatever).
to ‘A’: thanx for the sugar info. I do think that would be sweeeet. (too sweet, for me) But, Ill wait and try it……
Melody: I wish I could send you some of our (at the moment) gorgeous weather! It’s been a hotter than hell May ( 90 and high humidity for a few days) but now, past few days and near future…..perfect! High of 80 and crystal clear. really beautiful.
I usually prefer sweetening my own tea…I know this has not officially hit the stands and that said, I’d like to see a sugar free (splenda/sweet n low etc) version come out shortly after the release of the pre-sweetened. Even if it was released with all natural sugar alternatives/substitutes that would cut out the sugar spike. I know not everyone can be catered to but it’s nice when there’s a sugar-free option to foods and drinks 🙂
I am still looking forward to trying a sip or two of this new via. I usually try to carry a packet or two of sweetener on me so maybe it’s a matter of just doctoring the hot via and finding satisfaction *smile*
Iced Via…I need to try this. 🙂
as an addendum to kat’s comment,
i’m actually quite suprised starbucks isn’t at least also rolling out a sugar-free/sugar substitute version. they’ve got to realize how many of their customers either cannot medically have or prefer to not have sugar.
me, i’m a sweet tooth, so i’m sure i will enjoy it with a little soy. but 22g of sugar *still* sounds like a lot to me for plain sweetened coffee. even if it is meant to be a grande size.
I haven’t tried sweetened via yet, but if you want not sweetened cold coffee just pour a via in a water bottle of cold water and shake viciously….i use cold lactose free milk and some chocolate powder and that = breakfast
I like the sweetened iced VIA! I usually sweeten my iced coffee, so I really enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say it was lightly sweetened, though. It’s regular sweetened. Haha! Sugar is the first ingredient. I think I added too much water, though. I put 16 oz of fluid water, and then added ice. Next time I’ll do 16 oz of water AND ice. whoops! These will definitely sell well in 100 degree summer Texas weather!
If it was up to southerners, it’d have a lot more sugar than that! 😉 I wish there was another version of iced- the difference of sweet tea with sugar and sweet tea with a sweet n low or something, you know?
I don’t like iced drinks, but I’d be willing to try this and see. Might be good to keep around if the urges for something iced come along.
Ooh! What a great read on the upcoming ICED Starbucks VIA! Can’t wait to try this, myself. I have a great feeling that when I go into work @ SBUX tomorrow, the new ICED VIA will have arrived!
Can’t wait to compare/contrast w/ the current VIA. As of now, I’ve been making iced via’s @ home w/ the COL and/or ITA & LOVE IT! I drink black iced coffee here & there, but I prefer my bevs to be sweet & milky.
Tomorrow, I’m gonna fill up the 16 oz hard plastic cup with ALL milk & mix some ICED VIA! Can’t wait!
Thank you Mel! 😀
Some of the Starbucks stores in the Raleigh, NC area already have it out for sale. I saw some while vacationing there this weekend. I don’t remember which store exactly… I visited several. 🙂
I tried it and being a person that likes Iced coffee with an extra shot, this was pretty good with just a touch of 1/2 & 1/2. I had to laugh when a customer wanted to buy a box and it wouldn’t ring up. so I gave her a pack just for giving me a giggle. I think this will certainly be another niche item that some will use a lot. I remember when Via first rolled into the store and a lady asked me when they would start selling packets with all the stuff already in there, guess she was ahead of the times. With the 104F temps coming this weekend, Iced coffee seems to be back in swing since we are going thru as much as 6-7 pitchers daily already. Sounds like the Seattle weather is my kind of cool place for the summer, Tx hot is just freaking hot.
Skooter did you say 104 degrees? It’s barely gotten over 60 here so far. We’re having an unusually cool summer. I assume that one large criticism of the new product will be “but I can’t adjust how sweet I want it!” Despite that, I think it will sell! Especially where you are. I’m going to have to ask my local baristas how much Iced Coffee they go through. I’d be surprised if it is even one pitcher. Funny, but I almost never see anyone order Iced Coffee. I often forget that it exists.
@Merryn – I wonder if your area was planned as an early ‘soft launch’ for iced via!? Kinda cool! Thanks for letting us know and hope you come back soon.
I got one i got one!
I came in this morning and the AM shifts had a box for sampling themselves, but since I had been harassing them for a few days already they gave me one since I was so excited 🙂
I can’t wait to try it this afternoon 🙂
@AmazonV – Yippeeeee! – I can’t wait to hear what you think!
My picture is linked to my whole review with pictures, but here is a copy of the text:
When I poured it out it had a LOT of sugar granules, I was afraid they wouldn’t dissolve in the cold water fountain water, but they did.
If I didn’t know better I would say someone made coffee in a automatic brewer and added some sugar and threw it in the fridge. It’s not great, but it is very nice and smooth and refreshing. It’s sweet, noticeably so, but not overwhelming.
Please note: not a huge plain coffee fan, and I don’t frequently get iced coffee at Starbucks.
So I like it, I’ll buy some for when I need a iced coffee and can’t escape my desk
Tonight I decided to try our Iced Via hot, to see how it turned out. I thought I detected citrus notes when I tried it iced and I like Kenya and Ethiopia Sidamo hot; also, you can do regular Via iced, so why not Iced Via hot?
Bad plan.
Know all of that sugar in the Iced Via everyone’s been talking about? Iced, it sweetens the drink very nicely without it being overwhelming. Hot, it’s all you can taste. It tasted like I was drinking a cup of sugar water with some coffee in it. I couldn’t detect citrus notes. I couldn’t detect notes of anything. All I could detect was sugar, and lots of it. Even for the people who love to load spoonful after spoonful of sugar into their coffee, this would still probably be way too sugary.
So take it from me: if you want hot instant coffee and Iced Via is all you have…wait until you can get to a Starbucks and get the regular Via. If you like lots of sugar in your hot coffee and think that Iced Via might be your thing…stick with regular Via and add your own sugar.
@PaulBanbury and DeniseR – Hey Denise have been able to get your hands on any Iced Via yet? @PaulBanbury – Thank you for the comment! I will be a user too. I haven’t tried it with any added milk or soy milk yet, but Starbucks did do a good job of somehow making it dissolve well, and really taste like Iced Coffee as opposed to just normal Via iced. It dissolves better than the other Via. Thank you for your review of it!
I’m definitely looking for this.
I tried to do the reverse, I made a regular VIA which cooled and then I dumped it on ice with some cream.
Don’t remember much about how it tasted, but I never tried it again.
Thanks for this blog it is a pleasure reading it over from time to time.
Iced Via tastes kinda flat to me. It isn’t bright and citrusy like Terraza or Gazebo. Then again, it IS instant coffee. It’s sweet, which is nice, but I would’ve preferred it half sweet. It isn’t bad though for instant coffee.
One thing I dislike is that you can’t control HOW sweet you want it since the sugar and the coffee are together. What about the people who usually get iced coffee unsweetened or half sweet? If you want it half sweet I guess you could add more water, but that’s diluting the coffee as well.
Melody: no, have not been able to get my hands on any yet! My very-helpful wonderful regular store has NOT received it at all yet, I was told….. and one other very nice store I was in said they already went thru all they’d received. I am expecting to possibly receive a sample in the mail 😉 ? but at this rate, it will be all over the country before I’ve tried it! (I really do love being in on those ‘first’ things!) I am guessing I will like it, if it’s not tooooo sweet tasting. I am very used to southern SWEETened iced tea…… my parents are originally from the south (pre WWII) so, I had many glasses of the stuff when visiting as a child.
Oh! here’s what I wanted to add: when this for-ice-sweetened VIA comes out everywhere, I am totally expecting msi to be loaded with threads about wanting the ‘iced-via’ with…..splenda, stevia, not-so-sweet…whatever. so funny! that’s what we already have!!! watch! I’m betting it happens. and then , ps: Is there anyway of making this font a little larger??? I never had glasses all my life until my 50’s and now, like so many, need these little reading glasses. (which slide off my face with hot flashes!;) anyway, it seems soooooo tiny to me….. ? Thanx!
I finally got my to try the iced VIA. I was pleasantly surprised. I will definitely be keeping a bit on hand for emergencies. But it wasn’t as good as Terrazza, and nowhere NEAR as good as when I brew my own pitchers of Iced Coffee at home in the summer with Kenya and Gazebo blend! And it was definitely a bit sweet for me. But overall a nice option to have 🙂
It sounds delicious. I’m a bit sweet tea fan, so I bet I’d enjoy this. I’ll look out for the packets next time I’m inside a Starbucks.
so, through an odd sort of way (won’t explain here, but mel knows the story), i got gifted one packet of the iced via.
i happened to have a partially imbibed container of the ethos water with me when the packet was handed over. an ethos bottle contains some bizarre amount of water, 23.7 fl ounces. as you know, the requisite amount of water for the via is 16 ounces. so, some uncertainty on how much water i actually added my packet to.
i find it fairly tasty, and actually a little strong for my liking, but the sweetening seems to be about right.
i even just put some ‘light’ vanilla soy in it, and it holds up pretty well to that.
hopefully i was able to be one of the 80 who got a 5-pack on mystarbucksidea the other day, so that i may put it through some more experimentation before it hits the market!
did you make it in to 15th to try the toddied gazebo blend? what did you think?
Well, I DID finally get to try this…..our manager JUST recvd a box, had not opened it yet (said he had ‘orders’ not to give it out yet, etc., to any customers..I told him I’m not a customer 😉 so he gave me one to try. So, I think the packaging will help sell it, for sure. something about it. However, the 22g of sugar would be a concern for me on a regular basis. I had it on ice, in a grande cup…… about half of it. Then I did the same thing again but topped it off with a little skim milk…it was almost a ‘doubleshot’ taste. I think the tast is good and while not overwhemingly sweet, I wouldn’t want that much sugar in my coffee drinks. that’s 22g/16oz water…..theorhetically. A can of ‘real’ coke (12oz) has 39g.
So, I’m looking forward to having it once in a while, but not very often probably. (due to the sugar) As I’ve said before, I know our store has a hard time meeting their quota with the ‘other’ VIAs. so, we’ll see…..
I still haven’t seen any iced via at Tucson stores yet. I agree with denise that 22 g of sugar before even adding any milk is a concern to me too. I am extremely surprised they didn’t develop a splenda version of it…maybe down the road. It seems the regualr VIA is more customizable and versatile.
I managed to snag a package from my store last week for the nutritional contents. … Now the front says “makes 5 — 16 FL OZ beverages” but the Nutrition Facts are for 1/2 a packet (so double the numbers for a full packet).
Srv size 1/2 packet // srv per container 10 // amount per serving:
Calories 50 / cal from fat 0 // total fat 0g, sat fat 0g, trans fat 0g // cholesterol 0mg // sodium 0mg // total carbs 12g, dietary fiber 0g, sugars 11g, protein 0g.
And the iced via rolls out in the stores June 29.
@A – I’m trying Iced Via again right now. I just mixed some with Ethos water. It’s flavor is a little flat, and it could be a little sweeter for me! *eeek* I can’t wait to try it with sparkling water or Vanilla Dry. That should be good!
Answere 4 jet blue. The package says product of columbia, so I am guessing that is it’s a latin american coffee. I do agree that SB has slipped away from old school coffee knowledge fundametals. Start a revolution in your store & revive it 🙂
we actually just got it in and it actually taste really amazing. and for the cost is like $9.95 i will buy some I love it most definitly in latee.