To tell you the truth, I didn’t realize that Starbucks had been just testing its instant-coffee product—excuse me, its “ready-brewed” product—until this past weekend. But apparently the coffee giant had only made its Starbucks Via product available in Seattle and Chicago markets, although I’ve been carrying a few packets around in the bottom of my briefcase for months, the result of a mass sampling campaign last June or July here in the city too good for the Olympic committee.

Sorry. That just slipped out. I’m back in control.

Anyway, I only realized that Via was coming out of test when I saw the ads on Saturday night live along with everyone else. And my first reaction might have been like everyone else’s too: If I’m already in a Starbucks anyway, why would I want a cup of instant/ “ready-brewed” coffee?

The in-store taste test, which ran nationally from Oct. 2 through Oct. 5, gave customers the chance to blind-sample the new Via brew alongside Starbucks’ traditional Pike Place blend and to guess which was which. Whether they picked correctly of not, shoppers who underwent the java challenge got a coupon for a free tall coffee and a buck off the price of a Via three-pack ($2.95) or 12-pack ($9.95).

So back to the test bed. Why would Starbucks put its new instant up against its own store-brewed coffee? Well, why not? Other coffee contenders from McDonald’s to Dunkin’ Donuts painted a bullseye on Starbucks years ago and have been running campaigns suggesting—or outright stating—that their high-end coffee drinks are as good as the Seattle versions and less expensive to boot. (That goes mainly for the lattes and assorted foamy -cino drinks; I don’t hear anyone talking up the straight joe at McD’s.)

Dunkin Donuts has also taken aim at Starbucks both explicitly, with a taste test about a year ago that showed drinkers “clearly indicated a preference” for Dunkin’s original blend over Starbucks’ house brew, and implicitly, with TV spots showing confused people trying to speak “Fritalian” in a coffee shop with track lighting and uniformed baristas.

I even recall that years ago, Eight O’Clock Coffee, the leading supermarket brand, ran TV spots trumpeting a survey that found that customers preferred it to Starbucks’ packaged blends.

The reason they’re all lining up to let loose at Starbucks is, of course, that in terms of chain coffeehouse brands, it’s still the gold standard. Yes, others may be cheaper or less pretentious. But especially if you like the taste of coffee uncut with caramel or whipped cream, Starbucks is still the one to beat. Especially if you prefer real milk in your morning cup rather than those nasty little containers of half and half. (Listening, Dunkin?)

The economy may have forced some consumers to ladder down in their coffee consumption and opt for lower-priced providers, but strictly on the basis of quality alone, Starbucks has still got a lock on that brand association. So it makes perfect sense that Starbucks isn’t testing its new Via brand against, say, Nescafe Taster’s Choice—which itself has been plastering Chicago bus and El stops with a quality-and-value attack on its rival– but against what people consider “real” coffee, and the elite end of that spectrum to boot: Starbucks itself.

So who’s the target consumer for this new product? Not the average consumer who currently makes instant coffee a $21 billion dollar industry, I’ll bet. Otherwise Starbucks could simplify its Via rollout by putting samples in every mailbox and inside every Sunday paper. I’m betting most instant drinkers value the convenience of freeze-dried crystals and have learned to put up with the taste. Those mainstream consumers are not going to buy instant coffee that won’t even call itself instant, that comes in single-cup packets rather than jars and, as far as I can tell, will be sold in non-food locations from REI and Barnes & Noble to Office Depot but won’t be available at your neighborhood grocery. (You can buy it at Target and Costco, as well as in the company’s stores and online.)

In other words, this is really Starbucks instant for people who already like Starbucks, and for that reason the company is relying on promotion rather than direct-marketing tactics to get the word out. They want to talk to people who are favorably disposed to the brand, not the average instant drinker.

That’s why in addition to the in-store sampling, Starbucks launched a social media campaign for Via in mid-September that included a pair of brand reps traveling across the country west to east, posting YouTube clips and tweeting about their progress under the #StarbucksVIA tag.

The seven videos have gotten respectable viewerships of 4500 to 8500 apiece so far, while the tweets seem at press time to be evenly split between customers who said they could tell which one was the real brewed coffee but liked the Via anyway and those who say they will never switch. (There are also a surprisingly large number of complaints that about local Starbucks not running the taste test; that’s a mistake, wasting free publicity.)

The company’s also running a UGC contest asking for users’ Via experiences in essays, video and photos. Structured in six phases and running through Nov. 10, the contest is meant to illustrate all the ways and places that Via can more thoroughly caffeinate one’s life. Contest period two, for example, wants to hear from drinkers who “try it at Home”; period three looks at consuming it at work; and phase six calls for actual recipes using Via. Grand prizes are appropriate to the contest phases (an HP computer set-up for “at home”, an Amazon Kindle 2 for “on the go,” etc.), but they all include a one-year subscription of three Via 12-packs mailed to the winner each month for a year.

Again, this campaign isn’t for those totally new to the brand. Starbucks isn’t making converts with all these social media; but it is drawing out brand hero stories, and those might persuade some fans who like the brand once a day or as a luxury a couple of times a week to make it part of their daily morning routine—especially if it’s a convenient and close substitute for the in-store product.

According to reports, Via has been 20 years in development at Starbucks. Was it worth all that time and expense to engineer a line that will appeal mainly to people who already have an affinity for the brand? Who knows? As an urban dweller I’m still not clear how people get themselves in situations where they need but can’t get good brewed coffee. Are we as a nation camping more now? One reason I’ve lived at the same address for nine years is that I’ve got a choice of four independent coffee joints within three blocks of my doorstep, as well as a Starbucks, a McDonald’s and a Dunkin Donuts.

To me, that’s just smart life management.