Starbucks instant coffee hit the shelves in two markets yesterday, going on sale in both Chicago and Seattle. The new product marks an effort to provide an affordable solution to coffee drinkers that are being affected buy the recession, but has come under some criticism as going against Starbucks’ “coffee snob” image.

However, the instant coffee market is right around $17 billion worldwide, and taking a chunk out of that could provide the company a significant boost following a difficult last few months.

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