The Closer Look: Canned Coffee, Can we Crack it?
It’s surprising that coffee, one of the most consumed beverages in the world, can be so divisive when meddled with. This is largely driven by the emerging market of ready-to-drink canned coffee. Canned coffee seems like a valid alternative for those who wouldn’t be caught dead with a Red Bull; it’s (arguably) healthier and classier than energy drinks, but how does the tasting experience stand up?
My quest in finding a delicious canned coffee has been long, and unfortunately, fruitless. The Spinoff recently came out with an article ranking the canned coffees of New Zealand, in which they ranked 25 different options. I tried their #1 can—it still didn’t hold a candle to the double shot of espresso poured over cold oat milk I enjoyed that morning. Pōneke has some of the best roasters in the world, many of which are now dabbling in the canned coffee market. It doesn’t matter how elite their espresso blends are—the canned stuff is never quite right, especially for the coffee snob. Perhaps I’m expecting too much, expecting the wrong experience, or perhaps I haven’t yet grown an appreciation for canned convenience. To dismantle these expectations and understand the product for what it is, it’s best to look at its conception.
Canned coffee took root in Japan, at the height of the ‘Japanese economic miracle’, where industrious go-getters needed an energising beverage that could be cracked open en route. It could be vended from machines, tossed in a briefcase, chugged at a bus stop. Canned coffee arose in a landscape where there wasn’t much else to enjoy while on the move. As a product, it filled a gap; satisfied a need. Conversely, by the time canned coffee went mainstream here in Aotearoa, for years we had well and truly entrenched ourselves in a top-notch café industry. We were used to ordering barista-made coffee, attuning our tastes to a certain indulgence. Here, even for the corporate hustler, cafés are never far and queues are rarely long. You can get a trim flat white at the petrol station. Canned coffee flipped this on its head, offering easy-access caffeine with a bearable taste, albeit thin and reminiscent of office-grade instant.
In light of this context, it’s easier to surmount this view that canned coffee is a poor imitation of something we love. It’s an innovative product of its time and locale, which maybe hasn’t quite translated to ours. It’s not trying to mimic and seamlessly integrate barista coffee into our busy lives. Instead, it’s its own product that some enjoy, simply for what it is.
Thanks again,
Max
Jesse here, thanks Max for another great write up on The Closer Look. If you enjoyed this piece be sure to check out Max’s Substack here. If you enjoy this style of writing, be sure to subscribe to The Writing Project for regular pieces right to your inbox!
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