X-Bitter, Wonda

I'd been at a Family Mart Konbini, where I saw X-Bitter for the first time. It's a big can, nearly twice the amount of coffee as the regular cans, but for only 130 yen ($1.10 USD). The smaller cans usually go between 100 and 130 yen, depending on the machine they're in. A couple days later, I had to get up early, and I really needed the caffeine, so when I found a Wonda vending machine with X-Bitter in it, I decided to get a can. (The text partly reads "Umaniga de". This is short for "Umai Nigai" or "deliciously bitter.")



Oh man, this stuff is foul. It's like they took the cheapest, most tasteless, most bitter beans they could get, and roasted the hell out of them, and then added a whole bunch of caffeine, which is itself bitter. Never, never again. Nope. Never.

(Just as an FYI - there are two primary kinds of coffee beans: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is the good stuff, very flavorful and fruity, or earthy and thick, depending on which country it's grown in. Unfortunately, it has to be grown on the sides of mountains at high altitudes, so it's hard to harvest, and it's very susceptible to diseases and pests. Robusta grows at lower altitudes on flatter land, so it's easier to harvest, and it's more robust against diseases and pests, so it's much cheaper. But, it has little flavor, more caffeine, and is much more bitter. Many coffee shops blend robusta with Arabica to mask some of the bitterness, while trying to keep the overall product cheap. I think X-Bitter is nothing but the worst of the worst robusta. Feh.)