Coffee, Tea, A Push Off The Branch?: Coffee Review #1

~Hello again, fellow humans. Today's topic is a drink that's near and dear to the circulatory systems of millions around the globe, including almost everyone in Japan. That's right, I'm talking about coffee!

^ Canned coffee is readily available from vending machines and convenience stores all over Japan, in both hot and cold varieties. The above image is only a small sample of the brands available; these are brands that I've tried (and collected, obviously).

The workaholic nature of Japanese culture translates into a massive per-capita consumption of coffee (3.7 kg/person/year). Yes, there's the occasional Starbucks or local coffee shop, but the majority of coffee drunk in Japan is canned. To clarify, I never drank coffee before arriving in Japan, but as a worker drone I am now as dependent on it as the next person. The prices are quite good; I buy cans of this stuff at the supermarket for around 85 cents each. Since I'm too lazy to brew coffee myself, I consider this a bargain.

Today's review is of one of my favorite brands, BOSS W.E.B., which stands for "World Executive Blend". The "BOSS" brand is produced by Suntory, Japan's largest beverage producer, which also makes juice and whisky.

I'm the kind of person that's always reading cereal boxes, which carries over to these cans as well. The BOSS W.E.B. can also has a map, which earns it extra points in my book. The text on this can says, in surprisingly lucid English, that it's made from the best coffee beans produced in Latin America, Africa, and Indonesia.

Lest you think this to be merely a marketing ploy, rest assured that it's true. The market for canned coffee in Japan is so intensely competitive that bean farmers all over the world send their best coffee beans to Japan, because they know their buyers will only take the best.

The result is, in a word, oishii (delicious). BOSS W.E.B. is semi-sweet with a mild amount of milk, creating a rich and easy-to-drink brew. I prefer to drink it cold, although the hot version is good as well. Speaking of hot and cold, one way to tell when summer and winter arrive is to check the vending machines: many of the products sold are switched from the hot versions to their cold counterparts for summer, and vice versa for winter.

That's it for today's coffee review. Perhaps I'll review another brand if I find something exceptional. ~Oyasumi!