Starbucks advertorial disguised as editorial!

COFFEE COLLEGE |

LONDON

Instant Coffee Cultured Thought you knew the difference between instant and freshly ground? Prepare to be pleasantly surprised –

by Starbucks, no less WHAT’S YOUR FIRST memory of coffee?

Nan’s percolator, Mum making a hurried cup of instant every morning, Dad bringing home exotic bags of roasted beans, or maybe your first grown-up latte? If it got you hooked, then chances are your discerning palate can appreciate the difference between freshly filtered and freeze dried.

Unless, that is, you’ve tried Starbucks VIA, a new instant coffee that tastes like it’s been freshly filtered. VIA was first launched on easyJet flights in February after we teamed up with one of the world’s best-loved coffee merchants. An invite to Starbucks Coffee College followed, so we sent two crew members, Dinarte Teixeira and Katy Bryant, to get the lowdown on VIA from Alan Hartney, Starbucks UK & Ireland Coffee Ambassador.

“To make the perfect hot cup of VIA, add six ounces of water to one sachet,” Alan informed Dinarte and Katy during the day’s first training session at Starbucks’ London HQ. “Most importantly,” he continued, “use water that’s slightly off the boil (wait 20–30 seconds before pouring) so that you don’t burn the coffee, and you make the most of its flavour.”

THE VIA BREAKTHROUGH in instant coffee is apparently down to the late Don Valencia, pioneer of the micro-ground technology which seals in its “real coffee” taste and smell. It was even named after him – taking the first and last letters of his

surname in tribute. Now Starbucks guru Alan is picking up the mantle. He believes that: “Like wine, coffee tastes different depending on where it is grown and how it is roasted.”

Which helps to explain why there are two different types of VIA onboard every easyJet flight – Colombia, with its “smooth, nutty flavour”, and Italian Roast – a “bolder, more intense blend with sweet, caramel notes”.

After a lunch lesson in matching various foods to coffees, Katy Bryant had turned into a budding connoisseur: “Starbucks Coffee College really opened my eyes to

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COFFEE COLLEGE |

PHOTOS © TONY FRENCH

Starbucks Coffees, teas and Gourmet Hot Cocoa are available on board your flight today. See the Boutique & Bistro for more details.

LONDON

coffee. With a bold, sweet roasted flavour it tastes almost as good as any coffee you could buy over the counter in Starbucks. More than half of the 400,000 people who took a taste challenge enjoyed it so much that they made on-the-spot purchases from the range. which foods can taste fantastic with coffee.

I always assumed that only cakes and biscuits could complement the taste, but I was proved wrong!”

We asked our new coffee experts what they’d recommend to nibble on alongside an inflight VIA and it ranged from Dinarte’s “double chocolate muffin or nutty chocolate bar with the Italian”, to Katy’s top tip: “Try some pistachio nuts with the Colombia – its smoky roast is a perfect match.”

For espresso fans, one sachet of VIA Italian Roast and one to four ounces of boiling water creates a more intense mid-air

BUT HOW CAN we be sure that VIA is better than your average instant? Starbucks insisted our crew try “cupping” – the coffee world’s equivalent of wine tasting – to find out. “In the tasting sessions, it was so easy to tell the average instants from the VIA”, says Dinarte, after pouring out a cup of hot black coffee and pushing his nose close to the glass tumbler to evaluate its aroma. “But I was surprised at how hard it was to tell the difference between VIA and freshly ground.”

Starbucks coffees, teas and hot chocolate are available onboard. See the Boutique & Bistro brochure for more details. Deborah Hatch SEPTEMBER 10 | TRAVELLER | 189

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