Coffee cup/Credit: Flickr user scene*s

Just the thought of instant coffee reminds me of the jars of crystallized, icky Folgers and Sanka sitting, untouched, in the cupboard of my grandparents’ kitchen. But Starbucks is making an attempt to revolutionize instant coffee with a blend that it claims is indistinguishable (and cheaper) than their regular Starbucks brew. Americans spend billions of dollars per year on coffee. The latte habit that Starbucks helped inflict has taken a serious toll on our wallets. Could this new instant solution help curtail that?

Marketplace’s Scott Jagow compiles the first reviews of Starbucks Via instant coffee …it’s getting mixed results.

And Marketplace host Bill Radke interviewed Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on the program this morning. He says the instant move is not a reaction to the economic downturn.

In addition to supplying the caffeine that keeps us working, the coffeehouse as a place to gather and do work may be seeing a decline over all, with Starbucks closing hundreds of stores and some independent establishments starting to charge for wireless internet access, something that kept customers coming in.

Cyrus Farivar reports for All Things Considered:
“We’ve gotta turn the tables just like a restaurant does in order to be able to survive,” says Hudson Bay Cafe owner Sadri Majlesi.

Back in January, The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC launched Your Uncommon Economic Indicators. When people were asked how they had’ve changed their habits since the downturn, one of the first comments was about coffee:

“Coffee. I take a thermos to work now and save lots of $. Of course that’s bad news for the guys at the local coffee shop,” Johnny S. from Cranford, NJ said.

Have hard economic times changed your coffee habits?