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Introduction
Canned coffee is a popular beverage in Japan. Its popularity began in the 1960’s when Ueshima Coffee Company invented the product, and it has grown exponentially through the years. Canned coffee is commonly sold in convenience stores and vending machines. There are dozens of flavors and several can designs. These are produced and sold by multiple companies including UCC, Douter, Coca-Cola, and Nestle. This beverage has become a very important part of the Japanese culture, and over the years has also become crucial to the economy. Currently, there are efforts to expand into the United States, Chinese, and European markets.

History
Japan was first exposed to coffee via Dutch trading ships in the 1800’s. However, the product was short-lived. After the import ban was lifted in 1949, coffee slowly made its way back into the country. By 1960, the country was importing 15 tons of coffee a year and that number has steadily increased in the last fifty years.

The canned coffee boom occurred right after World War II and is often credited to Japanese interest in everything Western. The first product called Mira Coffee was launched in 1965 and was a massive failure. However, four years later UCC Ueshima Coffee Co.. released their first canned coffee product and it was a huge success. In 1970, the product was presented at the World Exposition in Osaka, and UCC immediately received a flood of orders. Ueshima Coffee Co. is now the leader of Japan’s coffee industry and one of the most successful canned coffee exporters in the world.

This boom in canned coffee also has to be credited to the invention of the vending machine by the Pokka Company. In 1973, the hot and cold beverage vending machine was introduced in Japan. Canned coffee and other ready to drink products from these vending machines became a huge hit for the on-the-go working class. This attitude was prominent in the recovery following WWII, and coffee companies like Ueshima and Douter modeled their business for this fast-paced mentality. Douter, for example, opened coffee chain stores (equivalent to fast food restaurants in the United States) in the 1980’s. Chain stores and vending machines were absolutely revered by the working class and are still incredibly popular today in Japan.

Types
In Japan, canned coffee is offered by most Japanese beverage companies. The most popular brands are UCC, Pokka, Boss Coffee (produced by Suntory), Georgia (Coca-Cola), Dydo, Nescafe, Fire (Kirin Beverage), Roots (Japan Tobacco), and Wonda (Asahi). Other smaller brands include Kissui (Sapporo Softdrinks), Itoen, Sangaria, Coffee Time (Yakult), BG (Meiji Dairies), and Café La Mode (Calpis).

Each Japanese company usually has its own selection of canned coffee beverages that may vary widely in contents and flavors. The most common coffee types are black, café au lait, low sugar varieties, and milk coffee which is a sweetened version of café au lait. Seasonal coffees are also popular, such as iced coffees during summer and warm or hot canned coffee during the winter.

In the United States, canned coffee has sprung up as a relatively new trend. Because of this, there are very few canned coffee brands available to the public. The most popular brand, Starbucks, has a majority of the market with its bottled Frappuccino drinks and canned DoubleShot coffee drinks with flavors like mocha, vanilla, coffee, caramel, and espresso. The main competitor to Starbucks is Illy, which produces black coffee, latte macchiato, and cappuccino. The only two other American brands in the business are Pom with its healthy and organic cold coffee, and Hillside which produces self-heating coffee beverages in flavors of mocha, french vanilla, hazelnut, and double shot.

Can Design
Japanese canned coffee drinks vary in size from tall cans (250 ml), to medium-height cans (190 ml), to short and wide cans (280 ml). The regular tall and medium-sized cans are much slimmer than American-sized beverage cans. More recently, a new, plastic coffee bottle with a twist-off cap has appeared. Japanese coffee cans have often had ornate commercial graphic designs, and some people even collect cans as a hobby.

American canned coffee beverages also vary in size and shape. Both Starbucks and Illy use cans that are similar in size to the Japanese 190 ml cans. Starbucks also uses a taller American-size beverage can (444 ml) for its DoubleShot line. Aside from cans, Starbucks uses glass bottles for its Frappuccino line and Pom uses an odd, bulbous bottle for its coffee. Hillside is one of the only beverage brands known for using a specialized can that heats itself without an external energy source.

Popularity
Canned coffee has been a very important part of the Japanese lifestyle. The canned coffee industry accounts for a quarter of Japan’s entire beverage industry and over 40% of Japanese males report themselves as daily consumers of canned coffee. The popularity of canned coffee can be attributed to its consumption by nearly all levels of the populace from teenagers to the elderly. The compactness and easy access of caffeine via canned coffee is also a large reason for its popularity in Japan. In fact, the easy access of canned coffee is its main selling point, as at least 90% of canned coffee products are sold via vending machines.

Because of the popularity of canned coffee in Japan, the market is very competitive, especially among the larger companies. Coffee companies try various methods of advertising to sell their products, from special can designs with popular Japanese manga on them, to advertising campaigns centered around American celebrities like Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones , and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

With over 75% of the world’s canned coffee goods sold in Japan, the United States has a much smaller market for canned coffee. This can be attributed to the American demand for more personal, social, and relaxing coffee shops like Starbucks. Despite this, the American market for canned coffee is still growing, with companies like Coca-Cola trying to break into the business.

The market for canned coffee is just now being introduced to China and Europe and is expected to expand rapidly in the future.