TOKYO: The fastest-growing drinks market in Japan isn't craft beer or fruit smoothies. It's US$1 cups of black coffee from the local 7-Eleven.
"Convenience store coffee is just great, given its low price," said Kiyoshi Fujimoto, a 50-year-old teacher in Tokyo. He estimates he drinks coffee from the shops, locally known as conbinis, four times as often as from Starbucks and pays about one-third of the price.
Coffee sales at convenience stores surged 48% last year, the fastest-growing part of Japan's beverage market, as $1-a-cup brews boosted consumption to a record. Japan is the world's biggest coffee importer after the US and Germany.
Demand per person will eventually be comparable to the US and Europe, said Kazuyuki Kajiwara, general manager at the beverage department of trading company Marubeni Corp.
Bean and product imports reached 459,708 tonnes last year, according to roasters' group All Japan Coffee Association.
The biggest suppliers are Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia, government data show. Consumption was an all-time high 449,908 tonnes last year, the coffee association said.
7-Eleven, which operates 17,600 convenience stores nationwide, plans to boost sales by 21% to 850 million cups for the year through February, according to Yasushi Kamata, a company director.
FamilyMart, the third-biggest Japanese operator of convenience stores, aims to bolster brewed coffee sales by 11% , said Natsu Takaoka, a spokeswoman.
Starbucks opened in Japan in 1996, its first market outside North America, and now operates 1,100 stores across the country, said James Olson, a spokesman for the Seattle-based company.
Japanese stores are among its most profitable, he said. Starbucks doesn't disclose how much coffee it purchases or sells in Japan. Tully's Coffee, also based in Seattle, has 588 stores in Japan, according to the company's website.
About 10% of Japan's bean imports supply convenience stores, with 7-Eleven representing about half of that volume.
Lawson Inc, Japan's second-biggest operator of convenience stores, also brews coffee for sale at 100 yen (81 cents) a cup, the same price as at 7-Eleven and FamilyMart.
"Salarymen and housewives are saying that coffees at Starbucks and other chain cafes are too expensive to buy every day," said Akio Yoshizawa, deputy director of Lawson's merchandising division.
Japan's coffee demand is expected to grow by about 2% annually, said Mr Kajiwara at Marubeni, which imports beans for 7-Eleven. Per-capita consumption will expand to 5kg a year from 3.5kg, he said.
"In my office, only instant coffee is available," said Kiyoshi Fujimoto, a teacher in Tokyo. 'When I want to have a good coffee, I escape from the school to get it at a convenience store.''
Coffee brewed by the stores expanded by 48% in 2014 and sales are set to increase by 17.3% to 175.9 billion yen this year, according to Fuji Keizai, a research group in Tokyo.
Japan's total beverage market shrank by 1.5% to ¥4.98 trillion in 2014, the researcher said in a May report.
It's not just demand for freshly brewed coffee that's increasing. About 100,000 tonnes of Japan's total coffee imports were used for production of instant coffee, and a similar amount was used to make canned coffee, according to Mr Kajiwara.
Coca-Cola Co's Japanese unit and Suntory Beverage & Food are the biggest makers of ready-to-drink canned coffee, sold mainly through vending machines.
"Convenience stores have created additional demand," Mr Kajiwara said. "They are selling above-average coffee at the cheapest price in the world."