Instant Coffee Market Worth $21 billion Worldwide

Starbucks has been touting its new instant coffee the past few weeks.

The new instant coffee line is called Via Ready Brew. Starbucks Corporation hopes to steal a big slice of the $21 billion global instant coffee market from established players like Nescafe and Sanka.

"This is the biggest investment we've made in a national launch," according to Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz. Starbucks has been trumpeting the new coffee line as a key ingredient in the corporation's economic turnaround strategy. Starbucks has experienced a sales decline of several percentage points the past year. They have been staging in-store taste tests the past few weeks as part of their promotion strategy.

Some analysts have questioned whether U.S. coffee drinkers will flock to Via, particularly since it will compete with more familiar, less expensive products. Schultz said that because of Via's higher quality, it would not compete with less expensive brands. He added that Via did not cannibalize Starbuck's main business in markets where it was tested.

A trio of single-serve Via packets sell for U.S.$2.95 in the United States. Twelve packets will sell for U.S.$9.95. These prices are significantly higher than Nescafes's Taster's Choice single serve packets that sell in Los Angeles for roughly U.S.$1.50 for six and around U.S.$4.00 for twenty.