As the coffee war rages between café culture and donut-shop discounts, the donut chain pushes their coffee to the forefront to show that it beat out Starbucks in a national blind taste test.

Like David and Goliath, sometimes all it takes is a little talent to take down a giant.

Last week, Dunkin’ Donuts launched a brand new ad campaign in which the chain proudly shows off that their coffee has outdone Starbucks in blind taste tests. Nearly 500 adults in ten US cities were given both Dunkin’ Donuts Original Blend and Starbucks House Blend in unmarked cups. While Dunkin’ Donuts hasn’t released the official numbers, they claim that a clear majority chose their blend.

“The results of this independent taste test underscore what our customers have always known: Dunkin’ Donuts quite simply serves the best cup of coffee in the country,” said Frances Allen, Brand Marketing Officer for Dunkin’ Donuts. “Dunkin’ Donuts’ 58-year heritage in coffee is unmatched by any other chain. Keeping Americans running all day with the highest-quality coffee has always set our brand apart from competitors. It will continue to fuel our growth westward so every coffee drinker in America can experience for themselves the country’s best-tasting coffee, always served fast, fresh and at an affordable price.”

Television ads for the company’s Dunkin’ Beats Starbucks campaign feature a lab-coat wearing researcher asking everyday people to sample coffee from white cups labeled A and B. Each time the person indicates which coffee he or she prefers, the researcher makes a check mark next to either the Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks logos.

American? Definitely. French or Italian? Not so much.

In recent years, Dunkin’s has made the effort to spotlight its coffee as more than just an aside to the sweet baked goods that made the company famous. From their “America Runs on Dunkin’s” ads featuring Food Network star Rachel Ray, to airline Jet Blue serving Dunkin’s Original Blend at 37,000 feet (in Dunkin’ Donuts cups, nonetheless, as I can attest from recent in-flight experience), it’s hard not to notice them. They’ve even taken a crack at Starbucks earlier this year with their “Fratalian” ad campaign that poked fun at the coffee chain’s inexplicable cup-size nomenclature. The donut chain isn’t the first to enter the race to capture the American coffee drinker’s quickly shrinking disposable income. Earlier this month, we told you about McDonald’s efforts to put more chinks in the Seattle giant’s dinged-up armor with their unsnobby coffee efforts. Taste issues aside, Dunkin’ Donuts merely seems to be striking while the proverbial iron is hot by reaching out to consumers who are looking for a way to still enjoy their daily coffee run without killing their wallet and saying, ‘we’re cheaper, we’ve been around longer, and our coffee’s not half bad’.

So can there be any winners or losers in this new “coffee war”? I doubt we’re likely to see hipsters clad in “Team Starbucks” or “Team Dunkin’s” shirts any time soon, and even with recent store closures and a drop in stock prices, Starbucks will continue to thrive. We’re a captive audience, powered by caffeine that’s got to come from somewhere. One can only hope both chains will keep their coffee worth drinking, at a reasonable price. When all else fails, channel Switzerland and brew your own at home.

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