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Review of Family Mart coffee in Japan. Is it better than Seven Eleven or Lawson? -Surprising price!!!


I used to own the coffee business before the COVID pandemic happened.


As a true coffee geek and ex-coffee business owner, I thought I am very suitable to introduce some easy-to-go coffee culture in Japan.

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Let's jump into it.


Let's go to Family Mart to get some coffee!

Let's go!!!


This is actually the second article talking about coffee from a Japanese convenience store, so I'm going to compare it with the previous review of coffee from Seven-Eleven.


If you haven't read the previous article, it is right here Seven Eleven coffee in japan. 100 yen coffee in Japan is absolutely amazing.


What are the lineups from Family Mart?


This is the Coffee related beverage menu that I saw at the cashier at Family Mart.

I found that Family Mart sells hot milk ( did not find it at Seven-Eleven) and has more size variation than Seven-Eleven.

As Seven-Eleven sells only regular size and large sizes, Family Mart sells Small, Medium, and Large sizes.


These are the differences that I found.


From left, standard S, Premium S, and Standard L size


Family Mart sells two quality lineups of black coffee.

  • Black colored cup (upper quality)
  • White, Red, and Blue colored cup (standard quality)

Regarding the espresso-based drink, there is only one quality lineup.


Tax-inclusive price as below (as of 10. Oct.2022)



I made the table to make it easy to compare the prices.




The most expensive ones are Large  Size Iced Caffe Latte and Large size Standard Iced Coffee, but they are still 290JPY which is almost 2€.

This price is exactly the same as the same product from Seven-Eleven.


Now I see the maximum coffee price from the convenience store in Japan would be less than ¥300.


This is almost equal to €2, and I think the coffee price of less than €2 is a very economically friendly price so that you can enjoy decent quality coffee from convenience stores very easily during your trip to Japan 24/7.


However, if you are a true coffee geek like me and looking for the authentic coffee shops around you when you're in Tokyo specifically,  The 10 Best Specialty Coffee in Tokyo 2022 will be something useful to read out.


This is one of my top-read articles.


How to purchase the coffee from Family Mart.



OK, so now I will quickly introduce how to buy coffee.

The procedure will be a bit different depending on whether you are getting iced or hot.

How to buy the iced coffee


  • Choose the type (upper? standard? latte?) and size (Small? Medium? Large?)
  • Bring the ice cube cup to the cashier and make a payment
  • Go to the coffee machine and push the right button*
  • Your coffee will be brewed in a minute!

*how the coffee machine looks like



How to buy the hot coffee


1. Buy the cup from the cashier. 
    You can simply tell you want to buy a cup of coffee.


Here is how to ask. 
EN: I would like to buy a cup of coffee
JP: Coffee Kudasai (コーヒーください)

and then, the clerk will ask you the type and size so you just can simply point to the one you want with your finger.


If you want to know more about asking something in Japanese,  How to ask for help in Japanese 2022 will be something useful for you.


2. Place your cup in the machine and start the brew.
    If you do not know which button to push, you can always ask the clerk.


3. Brew DONE!



How does it taste?



So, here is my quick review and summary of each coffee that I tried out today.


Standard Coffee Review


Stars: 3.5 out of 5


Comment: 

I didn't find anything special in this cup but considering the price is only ¥110, I cannot give less than three but due to the ordinary taste, I also cannot give above 4.

If you're looking for quality, you want to go for the premium cup but if you don't care much about the taste of coffee, this is for you.

Well-made ¥110 coffee.


Premium Coffee Review



Stars: 4 out of 5

Comment: 

The price difference between premium coffee and standard coffee is only ¥30.

I found rich acidity and a well-balanced body from the premium cup, and also did not find strong bitterness which personally I don't like much.

The quality is very equivalent to the premium cup from Seven Eleven, so I'll give 4 stars out of 5 for this cup as well.

Really good one.


Before leaving I will tell you the large size cup from Family Mart is quite large.

It's the almost same size as my face, so if you drink coffee like a fish, the large size will definitely satisfy you.



By the way, if you want to know about other features of the convenience store in Japan, please refer to my other article 5 reasons why Convenience Stores in Japan are Amazingly Convenient. 


Please leave a comment if you have any questions about this topic.