Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Coffee Beat

As is often the case when I’m buying Japanese candy at Mitsuwa, I wasn’t quite sure what these were. Some good pictures on the package are always helpful and I figured that these were just coffee flavored chocolate shaped like coffee beans. They are, and so much more.

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The candies come in a sassy cardboard tube (wrapped in plastic to keep them fresh). The name, coffeebeat is in English, as I believe that the word ‘coffee’ is pretty recognizable in the Japanese market. The font is funky and reminds me of the ‘70s. Inside the tube are little coffee bean shaped (but slightly larger) chocolate candies with a hard candy shell like an M&M. They even have the little crease on the flat side like a real coffee bean.

The shell is sweet and crunchy and very thin. The center is chocolate with strong milky flavor to it and of course a hit of coffee. It tastes like a mocha. Sweet, smooth, milky and with an excellent coffee flavor that doesn’t feel like a “flavor.” In fact, it’s less chocolate than it is coffee - the chocolate is just a medium to deliver the milky coffee flavor. If you’re a black coffee person, I can see that this might not be the coffee candy for you.

The package is cute, makes it easy to share and the quality is very good. Overall, I’ve been very pleased with the Meiji brand. The products are well priced, use quality ingredients, have logical yet innovative packaging and of course they all taste great. The website seems to indicate they’re for kids, but maybe I’m just a kid at heart.

Name: Coffeebeat
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Meiji
Place Purchased: Mitsuwa (Little Tokyo)
Price: $1.29
Size: 1.23 ounces
Calories per ounce: 155
Categories: Chocolate, Coffee, Meiji, Japan

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:07 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I was surprised that you didn’t note that they are delightfully free of actual coffee grounds. They do certainly qualify as smooth.

    Comment by Amy on 3/02/06 at 10:53 am #
  2. i must say, after reading all of this stuff about japanese candy, i am getting mighty disappointed that there is no decent japanese grocery in my area…  haha

    Comment by erin on 3/02/06 at 5:13 pm #
  3. If you have a World Market store nearby, they sell a lot of Japanese candies.

    Comment by Billy on 3/27/06 at 5:14 pm #
  4. Cybele's avatar

    Billy - I hope they do start carrying them at World Market. I just scoured the one in my area on Sunday and didn’t see these, but I did pick up some YanYan.

    Comment by Cybele on 3/28/06 at 2:59 pm #
  5. I absolutely LOVE Coffee Beat.  It’s one of the best candies EVER!!!  I have a large stash of Coffe Beat in my house but I only eat it when I have a craving for it because I have a limited supply.  The only place I can get it is from our former exchange student who lives in Japan.  His mom will send us a box of it every once and a while and we really appreciate it because it’s SOOO good.  I recommend it to everyone!!

    Comment by Tom on 7/21/06 at 7:38 am #
  6. Coffee Beat is my alltime favorite candy EVER!  the best part is that it gives a delightful coffee flavor without the actual coffee bean being present.  in order to really savor the flavor right is by sucking on it until the chocolate and coffee dissolve onto your tongue while squishing it to the roof of your mouth! no im not crazy!

    Comment by Eva B! on 7/24/06 at 8:23 pm #
  7. I saw your post abt COFFEEBEAT & was intrigued. Bought it today & it is scarily addictive! Not too sweet, nice cofee flavour & aroma & very cute & compact packaging! LOVE IT! Thanks for the review! I think this might be one of my favs from now on ^^

    Comment by chocolat on 11/03/06 at 3:58 am #
  8. I had some of these last week. They were part of an assortment brick of Meiji candies I picked up at Marukai that also included Chocobaby and some other things. They are quite good!

    Comment by Synthetrix on 1/17/07 at 11:06 am #
  9. Totally L-O-V-E coffeebeat. Just got it today from one of the local supermarket in the Phils. and will be buying more soon. :D

    Comment by anna on 7/05/07 at 5:28 am #
  10. Do you know where they sell that candy in the Bay?

    Comment by Connie on 10/09/07 at 2:23 pm #
  11. I love these. I loooove these, and I think that review was quite accurate and to the point.

    Comment by Jeni on 12/03/08 at 2:15 pm #
  12. I got these in Chinatown once, a little tiny box of it that was packaged in with other tiny little boxes of other candies. I thought it was just about the greatest thing I’d ever tasted. Way to go, Japan!

    Comment by Jeni on 2/06/09 at 4:15 am #
  13. I used to eat these all the time when I was little; you are right—they do date from the 1970s.  Most candies with this type of packaging are aimed at children, from a Japanese point of view, and they are often sold in penny stores that cater to kids.

    Comment by Cathy on 6/15/09 at 1:35 pm #
  14. Me too! Love Coffee Beat! In fact, I randomly made a short blog entry about it today. Story on the URL link. It’s really lame but hey. ^_^

    Comment by Chibirocka on 8/11/09 at 10:58 pm #
  15. this is one of my favorite candies! everytime i go to mitsuwa, i must buy several tubes!

    Comment by claudia on 11/09/09 at 6:32 pm #
  16. where can i buy this coffee beat in the philippines?

    Comment by drew on 8/25/11 at 8:44 pm #
  17. @drew: In the Philippines, it’s available in some outlets of Mercury Drugstore.

    Comment by Chibirocka on 8/26/11 at 7:19 pm #
  18. LOVE these. Just discovered them but they are really had to find in Australia. Any clues/tips?

    BTW….anyone remember the two coloured “coffee cups” which used to be around? These reminded me but of course searching the web for “coffee cups” doesn’t really help. Any site with a pic would be awesome. Coffee and chocolate is always a winning combo. :D

    Comment by AliB on 5/14/12 at 9:17 am #
  19. The first time I had ONE piece of CoffeeBeat last night…it instantly became my favorite!! I LOVE coffee and i absolutely love candies that tastes like one ^^

    Comment by Ashley on 7/03/13 at 6:29 pm #
  20. A good friend Bill Downey did a commercial for Coffee Beat back in 1973.  He had a big AFRO!!!! and danced around to some music and at the end YELLED Coffee Beat holding a pack of the candy in his hand!!!
    It aired three to four times a day for a few years.  I wonder if there is a way to find those old commercials.  We are having a class reunion next year in Cali. It sure would be great to see it.  Later I did an audition but didn’t get the part.
    “Big Coope” #51 Chofu High School, Nishi-Chofu, Tokyo, Japan Class of ‘72

    Comment by Philip on 10/10/14 at 10:16 am #
  21. If you have a 2nd and charles by you they sell coffeebeat as well as other japanese candy like the soda gum, blackblack gum, the lollipop that u use with soda as well as the japanese gummies and pocky!

    Comment by k on 6/29/15 at 3:47 pm #
  22. there was a candy commerical with the Sylvers for Coffee beats in 1973 approximately, where can we see the commerical?

    Comment by lori on 10/12/15 at 7:11 am #
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