Cute cartoon character can't help save Asian instant canned coffee

March 5, 11:17 AMCaffeine ExaminerBig Red Boots  

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I have waxed poetic about the deliciousness of Asian canned coffee before. Hello Boss is not one of those brands. Hello Boss is not even close. This Taiwan product was not even found in the dark recesses of my local Asian grocer, but the very popular Sunflower Markets. Melamine scare notwithstanding, I would still steer clear - even though there is a cute little Lubovitch mob boss as their logo.  The can used to feature this poorly drawn little dude, now forcing him into a little icon with their logo at the top.  I spent way too long trying to figure out if this one was the Boss, or the one who must  be the worker, saying hello to you, who are his boss. 

Taste:6
Well, I certainly have had worse canned coffees, but I have had a whole lot better too. This can of instant coffee, coffee flavor, milk powder and caffeine had enough kick, but tasted less like real coffee and more like a coffee candy, sweet and cheap roasted, full of badness and tons of energy. Imagine sticking a cup of Folgers in the fridge for an hour - and you get the idea. The biggest reason to take this on is the great buzz it has - all from coffee - and packs a nice buzzy wallop.

Packaging:5
Like most canned Asian coffees, this comes in a very heavy duty aluminum can, lined inside so it does not make the coffee all metallic and sour. I love the helt of this coffee can, where I feel I can get an extra 3 cents if I bring it in for recycling. The design is not worth keeping though, looking like something leftover from some horrid backwoods food processing plant. The writing is clear, but the fonts are downright horrible. I mean, I have not seen Zapf Chancery used since it came standard on my Mac SE back in 1992. I did lie how they printed it a couple times on the can for easy placement on shelves and coolers, and lists the caffeine - something most coffees never bother to do. Overall the basics of the package are really nice, it is just so unfortunate the graphics and design have about as much thought at 20 year old bad clip-art.

Nutrition: 5     Buzz: 8
Well, there is good news, and bad news. Good news is there are very few ingredients in here - so there is not much to screw up.The whole list is water, coffee, sugar, milk powder and natural flavor. That's it - pretty simple! Unfortunately, that means the flavor if the coffee, and most likely coffee flavored syrup shows through - and it is not very good. Not Caribou Coffee bad, but certainly not up to the flavor of Shock Coffee or a half dozen premiums available.
The good news is the buzz it gives you. With 146mg of calories from sugar, this will give you quite a sugar/caffeine buzz, enough to get you bouncing for a good solid 3 hours, followed by the sugar crash shortly thereafter. I love the buzz - but be prepared for the comedown - you don't want to be on a long road drive or operating roller coasters.

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