Once upon a time, you’d struggle to find a cafe in London selling a good quality cup of coffee. Nowadays, partly thanks to the arrival of multinational chains such as Starbucks, such places are difficult to avoid. This is no bad thing, especially as this coffee revolution has largely been based on increasing the quality of the product, and the public now being that much more knowledgeable about aromas, bean grinding and other such coffee characteristics. With this in mind, Starbucks’ recent introduction of instant coffee into its range of takeaway drinks (see photo) seems somewhat an unexpected step. One suspects that market forces (i.e. the desire to sell more coffee) was responsible for this sudden shift in focus rather than clamour from their well established clientele. Nevertheless, given the importance of marketing, its success is likely to be judged not only by sales of the new product, but also by just how instantly other chains follow this move. Slow roast slogans make way for the instant brew…
