Editor’s note: this is the first in a series of Point/Counterpoint entries that present differing views on a single topic.

Starbucks invented the premium coffee category and culture. All those little white cups, our fluent java-nese, an entire generation of start-up companies launched on wireless Internet, and, frankly, a new standard for what the brown stuff should be: roasted, delicious, sometimes dessert-like, sometimes serious, but always excellent.

Starbucks is right to remind us of that in their latest ad campaign. They raised coffee out of its sludgy commodity status and they need to keep it there. When the coffee conversation is about price, they lose, when it’s about quality, ceremony and storytelling, they win.

As much as people are still looking to cut back, they’re also seeking small luxuries and ways to feel good about what they’re buying: what am I really getting with this cup of coffee? The new Starbucks ads have some solid, interesting answers to the question, and the social components of the campaign invite their customers to answer as well.

[Note: I admit to being an occasional Pike's Place drinker, but lest I sound like a Starbucks shill, let me encourage you to get even more meaning by the ounce from your local coffee shop.]

Editor’s note: this is the first in a series of Point/Counterpoint entries that present differing views on a single topic.

The coffeehouse giant’s new ad campaign launched this month, along with a Twitter twist. Posters featuring a burlap sack design and the tagline “It’s not just coffee. It’s Starbucks” will be put up in select major cities. Starbucks is challenging people to scour their cities for these new posters, then be the first to post a photo of one on Twitter. The campaign aims at telling the story behind the quality of the coffee and apparently is the biggest marketing effort the company has ever undertaken. The ads come at a good time since every other commercial on the radio or TV is for McDonald’s McCafé drinks.

But knowing that Starbucks selects only the best 3% of beans and roasts them until they pop twice — is that really going to make consumers pay a few more bucks for each cup of joe? That is, consumers who aren’t already loyal “Starbuckers”. All coffee isn’t the same, but in these tough times we’re really trying hard to convince ourselves that it is in order to save a few bucks. Not so sure the quality argument will win the coffee race in 2009. But then again who am I to talk? I don’t even like coffee that much.