Written by apmayy | 28 July 2010
Posted in coffee

If the presence of what seems like 19 stores on every street corner isn't giving you enough Starbucks in your life, rest easy.

The ubiquitous Seattle-based chain has introduced another way for you to mainline their branded caffeine at home: Starbucks Natural Fusions. It sounds fancy, but the product is essentially flavored ground coffee, with the added twist of being "natural.

" Instead of chemical or artificial additives (the usual method of making coffee taste like caramel or mocha), the Starbucks brand blends arabica beans with ingredients like vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

"We've taken our 40 years of expertise in roasting and blending the highest-quality coffee in the world and applied it to the concept of flavored coffee," said Annie Young-Scrivner, global chief marketing officer for Starbucks.

Coffee snobs love to deride flavored brews, which tend to taste more like breakfast pastries than, uh, coffee. But flavored coffee surprisingly popular -- Starbucks claims 60 percent of their customers enjoy it, and it's a $265 million business in the U.S. So don't knock the flavored latte.

The chain is riding high after the success of its VIA instant coffee. The consumer products division -- which includes the powdered mix in addition to ice cream, packaged coffee, and those syrupy little cans of iced coffee -- had profits of $180 million in the second quarter of 2010.

The new coffees come in vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon and will be priced at $8.99 when they're rolled out in grocery stores this June. The company recommends that consumers drink it with cream and sugar. Evidently market research revealed that's the way approximately 80 percent of American coffee drinkers "enjoy flavored coffee." And you wouldn't want to be different.

Article Source: slashfood.com

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