Convenience store coffee is a new genre established in the 2010s

By Cafesba , 4 October 2025

Major convenience stores have coffee machines where you can drink delicious coffee for around 100 to 200 yen.
These coffee machines are designed to brew coffee that is unique to each convenience store.
7-Eleven has been offering self-service coffee on and off since around 1980.
Furthermore, Lawson and Ministop have been offering pre-made coffee since the 2000s.
In 2011, Lawson launched a cafe-like service with an emphasis on customer service, where staff serve freshly brewed coffee, under the concept of a "machi café."
Meanwhile, 7-Eleven and FamilyMart began full-scale self-service coffee services using their own high-performance coffee machines in 2013.
It was during this period that a new genre of coffee known as convenience store coffee was established.
Each company's focus on the quality of its coffee beans and improvements to the brewing machines led to improved coffee flavor.
One of the characteristics of convenience store coffee is its large scale. For example, if we look at the number of stores alone, Starbucks currently has around 2,000 stores in Japan, while 7-Eleven has around 20,000. When a product becomes a hit, its influence can be widespread, making it easier for more people to enjoy delicious coffee.

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