Konbini Kinyoubi: BOSS Coffee Taste Test

Welcome to Konbini Kinyoubi, where every Friday (Kinyoubi) we visit our local convenience store (Konbini) and buy something delicious. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read our affiliate disclosure.

Due to the sheer number of convenience stores and vending machines, Japan is full of products for people on the go, and coffee is no exception. There are numerous varieties of canned and bottled coffee available both hot and cold, and everyone has a favorite, but one brand deserves special attention. Ladies and gentlemen, meet THE BOSS:

The logo is apparently a picture of William Faulkner smoking a pipe, but their commercials feature none other than Tommy Lee Jones in the role he was born to play.

Boss is probably the most popular coffee brand in Japan, and offers plenty of varieties for all tastebuds, including specific branded options for different konbinis. I love canned and bottled coffee drinks, and have always found Boss’s to be some of the most consistent across the board. Since I’m a connoisseur, I decided it would be a good idea to sample every kind of Boss coffee at our local 7-11. I may have gone overboard.

I got four cans, plus two bottles of “Craft Boss,” their upper-class brand. There is also a spinoff specific to 7-11 called “7’s Boss,” but I’m pretty sure it’s just the Craft Boss with a different label. Because it’s summer and Japan is disgusting right now, I went with all cold options, but know you can usually find most of these (and others) served hot from konbinis and vending machines.

To start us off, let’s try the canned coffees. As you can see, the cans are all relatively small, which is useful in the winter because you can put a piping hot one in your coat pocket and carry it around without hurting your little fingeeeez.

The Verdict(s):

Cafe au Lait: nice, sweet, creamy, easy to drink, what a nice treat. Can is small but the drink is smooth, not as sweet as I thought it would be. Not a ton of coffee taste, but it's very good and I would have drank one the size of a building.

Rainbow Mountain Blend: slightly more coffee flavor and less milky than the Cafe au Lait, though still not a ton of flavor. If iced coffee is generally too strong for you, this would be a great pick. I can see it pleasing those who want coffee taste and those who don't, so definitely a good middle of the road pick. I'd been scared off by the colors on this one before, but was wrong.

BLACK: yowzers, that's a black-ass coffee. A bit too "coffee that's been sitting out all day with grounds in it" for my taste, but if you need to wake up, this is the one. I think if I'd gotten the hot version, I'd really like this, but I'm not a standard iced coffee guy, so I'll avoid this one in summer and try to remember it next time I'm out and about in the winter.

Classic Gold Boss: oh, that's the one. Give it a medal. Give it ten. Doesn't taste watery, flavor that stays on the tongue. If you want one that tastes like a good cup of coffee, this is it. Perfect for a small can as well, as it's decently strong.

I definitely liked the Classic Gold the best, but they were all pretty good. Now, for the fancy bottles:

The Verdict(s):

Craft Latte: smooth, milky, coffee taste that isn't bitter or too strong. This is my baby. He's not my favorite of all the bottled coffees in Japan, but this is the standard I know I can go to when I want something refreshing on a hot day because it tastes good and it’s available at pretty much every konbini as well as a lot of train station vending machines. If there's one Boss product I think anyone would like, it’s this one.

Craft Boss Black: similar black coffee flavor to the canned black, but much smoother. This one actually tastes like coffee and is quite refreshing. I can see people finding this too strong, but even as someone who generally doesn't like regular iced coffee, I totally dig it.

Overall, I tend to get the Craft Boss bottles more often because I want greater volume, especially in the summer when the heat in Japan is reminiscent of Ichiro’s favorite American expression. But if you don’t need a lot of coffee or prefer something small and hot in the winter, the other choices are solid. While it’s true that fresh coffee made at home is best, to me, these will always taste better than a styrofoam cup of watery black coffee, especially on a sweltering summer day.

I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning, and the question is not if I will get a Boss coffee on the way, but how many of them I can buy before my wife calls the police and has me sent to that mutant prison from Deadpool 2. I give this week’s haul 15/10 and I’ll do it again. Until next time, do as the Boss says. Seriously, just do what he says. He’s the Boss, after all.