The Skinny on Cafes & Latte

Posted on 03/10/2023 Last updated on 01/11/2024

Top Photo: photoBさん on PhotoAC

Now, I know what you’re thinking. When I’m in Japan, what am I going to do about getting my hands on a decent latte? Will have need to buy an espresso machine? Import one? Build my own? Where should I go to pay money for one? Are they all the same? Do they taste like Japanese seaweed? Is my café latte life over? Should I just go ahead and begin that heavy metal detox!?

And the answer is yes! And no! And all things in moderation. Let me start from the beginning. I know what your thinking. When I’m in Japan, where are some good places to get a decent cup of joe? Well, luckily for you, I’m here to give you the skinny you need! The detox will go a long way in that, too. Trust me.

MINI STOP

Okay first, let’s talk about the konbini or convenience store. Your down-the-street-quicky from heavens-know-who. And our first stop along the way is MINI STOP.

As far as a café latte goes, don’t get one here. Straight coffee, fine. But they don’t actually have machines for café lattes. If you order one, it’s small for the price and the attendant will then disappear back into a closet and re-emerge a minute later with a paper cup half full of microwaved liquids- a semi-viscous, white cream. Then you go to the coffee machine and fill it with, perhaps, espresso. I think it is espresso, but the whole thing is odd. I like Mini Stop above the other convenience stores, but for this, no. If it were 100 yen, sure. But I think it’s more like 170. And on the small side. But Japan likes that sort of thing- compact and economical!

7-ELEVEN

Our next coffee stop is 7-ELEVEN.

If you must, a quicky at 7-11 is doable. You can get an M-sized café latte for a slightly overpriced 230-ish yen. It’s bigger than the Mini Stop one and is middle-of-the-road quality. Their Iced Latte is perhaps the better choice. You’ll buy a tall plastic cup already full of ice over in the freezer section and then take that to the machine. It’s a reasonable choice if you haven’t other choices.

Photo by codino

FAMILY MART

Slightly ahead of 7-Eleven is FAMILY MART.

Family Mart sells an L-sized café latte for 210 yen. It’s an okay size. The machine will fill it up nearly to the top with a good 1.5 cm of pure foam. I do think it’s a bit pricey for what you get, but I prefer it to 7-Eleven’s version. Seems nobody wants to do others any good anymore. Don’t you miss those days when you could just buy something without being ripped off? I guess that’s how they are doing it. Nobody remembers those days. You get a new normal every 10 to 20 years and nobody stops to think “Now wait a minute…”

Family Mart also has a rack of spices to add to your coffee. Cinnamon sugar, caramel, vanilla, that sort of thing. Quite low quality, but it’s a no-cost option. The ice coffees are available in the freezer section as well. Just buy an L-size for 269 yen. A bit staggering, I know. But this is a bit bigger and a bit more expensive than 7-Eleven’s version. You’ll want to wait for the ice to melt about half way, otherwise you’ll be finishing your drink within a minute.

LAWSON

And lastly, we’ll touch on LAWSON here.

This is where I recommend your insta-cheap-ish coffee desires to be fulfilled. To me, Lawson coffee has the best taste. Their Medium hot café latte is price fixed to all other offerings. It’s most comparable to Family Mart’s L. They do offer the MEGA HOT though. This is MUCH larger than pretty much everything else. Especially the cup. This cup is filled about 60% of the way at the machine (yeah bit of a joke, I know), but it’s still significantly larger than say, a Family Mart L.

However, it is NOT price-efficient. At a mega 360 yen, it is insane when compared to what we used to enjoy at American gas stations on a freezing, sleety day. All those scalding hot, rich cappuccinos in those insulative cups for a few quarters. If the Japanese knew about that, there would be a revolution in the morning. Actually, there wouldn’t because no one has the energy or time anymore for that sort of thing, but at the very least there’d be complaints on social media. Make way for the future!

In any case, it’s not really worth considering the MEGA HOT. Apparently, a lot of Japanese feel this way, too. So Lawson often has sales on their MEGA HOT which isn’t hot either. So look for these. I’ve seen them going for 300 yens and also price matching to their L size, so you could up-size for free during their Happy Hour, month-long sale. They also have a MEGA size for their ice coffee. Don’t know if it’s called MEGA ICE.

That’s the konbini for you. None of the hot coffees are actually very hot, by the way. But nobody wants to be at the center of the next “somehow this scalding hot coffee just ended up in their lap, your honor” scandal.

Cafes

And this brings me to other cafes. The big busy-ness staples being Starbucks, Dotour, Tully’s & Excelsior. My only recommendation here is go to Tully’s. It seems the most honest. Also, Tully’s gives you hot drinks most of the time, unlike jokingly lukewarm Starbucks. The last one I got was even making me change hands! The quality is a definite step up as well. Dotour’s hot drinks are also fairly hot, but their menu can be a bit underwhelming. Obviously, these brands are going to differ much more in what they offer and also they are 2 to 3 times the price of a wham-bam over-priced cheapo version.

Conclusion

In the end, if you want a quality café latte, it’s safe to just go with mom & pop cafes. Occasionally they can be even more expensive than corporate brands, but you always get the better stuff. Corporations are physically bound to a single aim: profit. It is their structure. Yes, people within them may want to balance and bring a human touch back into the machine, but they are barred in by the very nature of publicly traded, non-living entities. A mad world where cost-cutting is stormed upon by all means and methods which can be covered up enough to distract away customers’ attention from the underlying horror show. Because then, there would be lawsuits and multi-million dollar fines. All of which would reduce by 10s of percent how much they saved doing their cost-cutting practices!

Uh, sorry. Got a bit off topic there. Bottom line, if you just need your fix of caffeine, anything from a vending machine canned coffee to a convenience store special likely has it. When in doubt, take a gamble! One of them will pay off. Well that’s enough out of me. I hope to have allayed some of your concerns over getting a buzz in Japan!

Photo Credits:

Top Photo: photoBさん on PhotoAC

Additional photo by codino