Taste test: Starbucks edition

Fannie who? Freddie what? I'm on va-ca-tion.

The only potentially work-related thing I did today was try the new we-can-do-healthy-too drinks that launch tomorrow at Starbucks.

The Vivanno--in orange mango banana and banana chocolate--is a $3.95 smoothie made with a whole banana, whey protein and fiber powder, and then some combination of milk, ice, cocoa and juice. I had my mom and niece taste it:

My mom's take on the organge mango banana: "It basically tastes like fresh banana. I don't taste any other flavors in it. But it's very thick and smooth." My niece: "It's a lot of banana, but that's not a bad thing. It's not too sugary. Keep it coming."

My mom also liked the chocolate banana variety (this time bittersweet chocolate was the overriding flavor), and considered 270 calories "not bad." My niece somehow doesn't like chocolate. I don't have words for that either.

We next tried the new $2.95 Sorbetto drinks that are only getting sold in southern California:

These are icy-like and come in two varieties: a Pinkberry-inspired yogurt flavor and one that is marketed as citrus but pretty much just tastes like grapefruit. My mom and niece were actually a lot more excited about these, which makes me wonder if Starbucks went national with the wrong product. Not that I know anything about market research.

But I do know that the Sorbetto was dispensed from a machine (super-simple from an operations point of view), and the Vivanno was made in a blender from scratch. I asked how much time it takes to make a Vivanno--I am constantly reminded that one of the problems at Starbucks is customers having to wait in line to get a simple cup of coffee. The Starbucks people assured me that a Vivanno takes about the same amount of time to make as a Frappuccino. The idea, it seems, is that clerks peel bananas in their downtime.

I hope it work out for Starbucks. They could use a little good news.

Barbara!