How often have you been there: groggy, half-awake, but forced by the slings and arrows of happenstance to function irregardless. With me, it’s most Monday mornings. After the weekend, I’m completely out of the habit of getting out of bed early, and I usually find myself at work, still without having had my wake-up cuppa joe.

That’s why I keep a stash of these in the employee break room, up in the highest cabinet behind the old glass vase somebody left there on the odd chance that somebody brings in flowers to brighten up the place. Starbucks VIA. One box, carefully hidden, has helped me get through more than a week of Mondays.

It’s instant coffee, just so we’re clear on this. Starbucks works hard to avoid the phrase, but they shouldn’t. Technology has come a long way since the old days of Folgers Crystals that, when added to hot water, gave you a cup of blech that was almost but not quite entirely unlike coffee. This stuff is actually pretty good, and a godsend on what I call Bleary Mondays.

Click the sample link, the greenish button just below the VIA logo, and they’ll send you a free sample, for your Bleary Monday. You’ll see.