Sunday, September 20, 2009

UCC Coffee with Milk!

UCC Coffee is a staple of quite a few Japanese people looking for a quick buzz in the morning. This drink is a nice mix of sweet milk and coffee in a very solid can that is best served chilled after giving it a good shake. From researching the drink it had a large surge in popularity upon being featured as the drink of choice in the now famous Evangelion series. They are readily sold in vending machines and local snack shops(Like 7-11, Sun Kus, AMPM) in Japan. There are a total of two can sizes, basically a fat and a slim version, one more like a Coke can whereas the other being more Red Bull sized, as in the limited EVA Coffee cans they had in 2007.

In terms of an anytime fix, it really helped during college during those late nights wrapping up projects. The flavor is pretty good, with a strong coffee taste but with enough milk that it won't overwhelm your taste buds or anything you might be snacking on. If you can find some at your local Asian import store, they're really good if paired with cookies or just about anything sweet. However, do not attempt to drink this with chips because it seems to react really horribly with anything salty. The one thing we found disappointing is the awful aftertaste that follows upon finishing a can. Upon finishing my first can I started to get a really bitter aftertaste which I had to promptly flush away with a good mouthwash rinse.

So UCC Coffee is a decent Japanese iced coffee, definitely the friendliest option for people who don't like the taste of straight coffee. Give it a shot, the price isn't too bad from looking around at online sources($1.50 a can was the minimum).