canned coffee

my staple each morning used to be cheap homemade cafe latte – 1 cup microwave-heated fresh milk, 1 teaspoon nescafe instant coffee, 1 teaspoon sugar.

now that i no longer have a microwave (my mother believes that microwaves are bad for you) i havent been drinking much coffee, as i much prefer milky coffee to watery coffee. it’s good then, that kopi (coffee with sugar and milk) is really cheap. they more or less require a sit-down at the coffee shop, however, which makes things a little difficult.

i’ve been craving coffee lately, and recalled the nescafe canned coffees that I used to drink a fair bit of at one point in university. i was quite excited to spot them at cold storage in what was my favourite flavour – mocha:

while looking for the above picture i came across mostly good reviews of this coffee, but unfortunately i found it disappointing. it was thin, watery and not sweet enough for my liking. worst of all, there was hardly any coffee taste. instead, it seemed more like milo than coffee!

so sad. i’m not sure if there’re other brands of canned coffee around in singapore – i will check NTUC – but canned coffee was something else i drank quite a bit of in japan. i’m not sure why they havent found their way to singapore yet though, considering they’re so commonplace in japan and that singaporeans love japanese food products, among others.

my absolute favourite is mount rainer due to its rich taste, but that’s available only in conbinis and not vending machines. i used to drink suntory Rainbow BOSS if mount rainer wasnt available, for the sole reason that Tommy Lee Jones advertises for them. recently however, lack of choice meant that i had to drink Georgia’s coffee, which turned out to be surprisingly tasty – better than BOSS and the next best after Mount Rainer.

if you get the chance, do try these flavours:

the recently launched Georgia Vintage – apparently more mature beans are roasted in a special way. it’s quite fragrant and the taste is just right.

Georgia Advanced is pretty good too, and supposedly doesnt leave an aftertaste:

for those who prefer sweeter coffees, the cafe au lait (below right) is rather good too. you get more coffee for the same price compared to the two above, which is perfect for winter when you’re needing hot coffee to warm you up.

i havent checked, but i wonder if the japanese supermarkets carry some of these japanese coffees i like. even then i’m not sure if i can justify purchasing them, considering 100yen green tea is $3 here! give me my 70cents kopi with 2 teaspoons of condensed milk please…