US hotel guests will soon wake up to Starbucks brew in their room

(AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER)

In a move signaling a growing trend towards a new kind of brew, Starbucks Corp. announced this week that it will be providing single-serve coffee to half a million hotels across the US.

The latest deal will see Starbucks coffee delivered via Courtesy Products' CVI one-cup brewing machine systems in 500,000 luxury hotels.

The world's largest coffee chain has been making a string of announcements in the last few weeks indicating a strong interest in expanding their reach into the one-cup brewing market, currently dominated by machine-makers Keurig and Tassimo in the US.

Their VIA line targets people on the go with single-serve instant coffee packets. And though unconfirmed, reports that the company was in talks with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to provide coffee for the Keurig brewing system sent share prices for Green Mountain to a record high.

Since 2006, single-serve coffee brand Nespresso, whose ads feature George Clooney and John Malkovich, has been the exclusive coffee supplier for 170 of The Radisson SAS hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as the Relais & Chateaux hotel chain.