Well, not exactly. Probably the giant corporation is thinking mostly of harrassed and weary office workers with nothing but a microwave to their name, when they launched their new line of instant powdered coffees.
Nonetheless, on a recent backpack trip with the family, looking for a coffee to take backpacking that wouldn't be hideous and wouldn't require equipment, I took a chance on Starbucks' new line, called VIA…and was pleasantly surprised.
Shocked, even.
Give the instant "microground" packet of coffee powder a minute or two to fully dissolve in the hot water and you will find it's quite decent — better than cowboy coffee, without the irritating bits to get stuck in your teeth, and far superior to the sharp, bitter instant coffees of the past.
It's a little like Cinderella. It's good when it's good and hot. After it begins to cool, it can turn on you. Drink it while it's fresh. So to speak.
It's a breeze to pack. A pack of eight coffees weighs a mere ounce and a half (though it does cost a shocking $7 or so).
One detail: If the giant corporation packed its black caffeinated powder in paper, instead of a plastic sleeves,all the trash could vanish in a minute or two, and leave not a trace, on land or in the pack.
For all the coffee's virtues, I can't bear to post a picture of the product. Instead here's the sort of place you can go, by such means, and see this sort of scene…Muir Lake by moonlight.
Kit Stolz 
Thank you for the Muir Lake imagery and not that hippie-style coffee logo which is all too ubiquitous. And thanks for the fairminded plug for their product, though thankfully I’m not going to be backpacking again in this lifetime and can live without coffee pretty easily so it’s purely academic.
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