Japanese Coffee is a Canny Idea

Japanese coffee is a canny idea
By Kevin Steen

Tea has been an icon of Japanese culture since the ninth century, consumed daily for medicinal, ceremonial and social purposes.

Though tea may never fall out of favor, young and fashionable Japanese consumers are willing to try new Western-style products, including coffee.

In the last couple of decades, Japan has become one of the largest super-premium coffee markets in the world, buying single-origin specialty coffees from countries like Burundi, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Jamaica (Japan buys 90 percent of Jamaica’s famed Blue Mountain coffee,) Puerto Rico, Peru, the island of St. Helena, Tanzania…if it’s unusual and expensive, there’s a market for it in Japan.

On the other hand, the Japanese by far consume more hot or cold canned coffee than any other country…that’s right, I said canned. It’s available through vending machines which sit on every street corner. More than two million of them, in fact, dispensing 9 billion cans of liquid coffee annually, equaling an average of 75 cans per person. Sales in Japan account for three-fourths of the roughly $17.4 billion market for ready-to-drink coffee beverages around the world.
Ready-to-drink packaged coffee is to Japan what soda pop is to North America, and American companies like Coca-Cola have been selling canned coffee in Japan since the 1970’s, when hot and cold vending machines were invented.

These high-tech vending machines serve each can of coffee hot or cold, just as you like, and in just about any combination: black or with milk, sweetened or unsweetened.
This vending-machine mentality suits the fast-paced Japanese, with their stressful lifestyles and high regard for technology. Food products (along with everything else) are marketed on the basis of convenience, practicality and enjoyment.

But is it any good?
I suspect Canadians have been spoiled by the convenience of drive-thru windows serving fresh coffee and our custom-made espresso drinks offered in comfort by Yours Truly. I also suspect people drink them purely for the caffeine, and not necessarily for a taste sensation.
Unless you’ve been lucky enough to travel about in Japan, Taiwan or South Korea, you’ll have to visit a local Asian food market to find a sample here in Canada. If any readers are familiar with this product, I would love to hear your review! Better yet, the next time you’re back from Asia, could you bring me a sample of canned coffee? I’m just too busy to get away.

Kevin Steen is a true coffee lover and proprietor of Damascus Coffee House in Riverview. Do you have a coffee question for Kevin? Visit him at the shop, or call him at 855-4646.