Canned coffee
by rebecca ~ March 15th, 2005. Filed under: Ordinary Muse.
The line between life in the US and life in Japan blurs. I can’t remember if hot canned coffee is common in the States. I don’t think it is, at least I doubt it’s offered in vending machines, and it’s definitely not spat out of the machine piping hot like it is in Japan.
Canned coffee is an odd drink. It tastes nothing like real coffee. For one, it contains loads of sugar, more than actual coffee, so it tastes like hot water with corn syrup. For another, if you get the “cafe au lait” type, which I usually do, it has that strange milk-flavored dairy creamer taste that leaves an oily coating of white glue on your teeth, tongue and throat, which is not even remotely pleasant.
In short, I have no idea why I bother to drink it, but I drink it about once or twice a month.
Maybe I succumb to the convenience of getting a warm drink without having to boil water, maybe I have an urge for sickly sweet liquids, maybe I’m hungry and want to fool my stomach for a while longer, or maybe, just maybe, I enjoy holding onto the miniature hot can, so hot I have to pass it from hand to hand on the way back to my office. I should just leave it unopened and treat it as a tiny instant heater for my often freezing hands.