Seen at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Nagoya, Japan’s third-largest city, iced coffee has never been more unexpected or conveniently fresh-to-make than with these prepackaged cups of ice. Customers pick up the safety-sealed cup o’ ice in the freezer section and dispense fresh coffee near the checkout. For the retailer, no ice machine is needed to provide customers a self-served cup of fresh iced coffee. For coffee connoisseurs, this is the way iced coffee should be made. Product pricing, at 105¥/USD $1.34, places it in the neighborhood of bottled water. Kokubo “Rock Ice” is a specialty brand of premium ice formulated to melt more slowly than conventional cubes.
