08.05.07
Boss Black Coffee
Hello readers! This is The Man, traditional JSFR coffee drink reviewer, bringing you a review of a new coffee drink from Suntory.
After having tried Mr Brown and Hello Boss, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Boss Black Coffee. For photography purposes, I poured it into a glass and was surprised to find it a nice semi-transparent dark brown. Not opaque. Not milky in any way. This stuff is entirely coffee flavored without milk or sugar. I checked the ingredient label and found two entries: “Water, Coffee.” That’s it.
And since we’ve been keeping this in the fridge, I had an unsweetened glass of extremely cold coffee, which is just about as appetizing as you might think. A quick sip and I was ready to chuck the whole thing as a bad idea. But in the interest of SCIENCE! I decided to give it another go.
Transferring the contents to a mug and microwaving it for a minute on “High” got things nicely warmed up, and the temperature made a world of difference. When cold, Boss Black Coffee is disgusting and bitter. Hot, it’s a decent cup of joe. Not too strong, not too bitter and without the burnt over-roasted flavor you get from some national chain coffee shops I could mention.
Unfortunately, apart from the novelty value, there’s just not much else going for it.
The can is tiny, holding barely half a decent sized mug, and it’s expensive at that size. Also, while it’s a handy little package of pre-brewed coffee, in order for it to taste good it’s got to be served hot. I’ve seen at least one market that has these cans for sale in a little heated cabinet (sort of the opposite of a beverage cooler), but I can’t imagine it’s easy or comfortable to pry open a hot metal can and then try to drink out of it. No, you’re going to need a mug to put it in, and then a microwave or some similar appliance to warm it up. And if you’re going to get all of that, why not just go a step further and get yourself a coffee maker?
Major negative pea points for all of these things.
Overall, the slightly above average flavor of the coffee doesn’t make up for the tiny serving size and the inconvenience of needing to heat it. Final score is 1.5 disgruntled Wasabi Peas out of a possible 5 wasabi peas.
randsinjap..er...newzealand said,
August 6, 2007 at 3:28 am
I really ought to read every last one of the JSR’s and add a Recently in Japan perspective but alas, I need more time. At any rate, just a few things. Black coffee was, according to the big canned coffee making companies in Japan, one of the hardest to create where it would have anything like a halfway decent taste. For something like eight years they only had creamed and sweetened canned coffee. Black has only been around for maybe five to six years. Yeah, I don’t much care for it cold either, but hot is passable and especially tasty with sweets. And yeah, the cans are hot, but that rocks when you get one on a cold winters day out of a vending machine. (Hell yeah they have vending machines that deliver heated cans; the US is in the beverage dark ages compared to Japan). If you are looking for a yummy coffee to try out, I recommend Boss Rainbow Blend. It was one of my favorites. Also, for novelties sake, I hope you can find God coffee, and some of the others that have excellent names like Deepresso (you can actually see it at the link above). Love the reviews eh, from both of you. Keep it up and I’ll see what I can do about adding more comments.