I’d said this before on this site multiple times… (old man voice) I remember back when you could not find a canned or bottled coffee to go without sugar. Just black coffee. (/old man voice) Because sometimes you like your sugar with coffee and cream, as the wise ones once said, and sometimes you’re trying to cut back.
This specimen is cold brew coffee from Vietnamese Robusta coffee beans. And that’s pretty much it apart from “natural flavor,” which as a footnote states “Adds a trivial amount of total and added sugars per can.” How much sugar is considered trivial? Not enough to even register on the nutrition facts and not enough to even register on my taste buds. But I would go so far as to say it doesn’t even need sugar.
This is a very bright, light brew. It tastes almost sweet—but it’s not a sugary sort of sweet. When you’ve consumed as much coffee as I have (I’m amazed I don’t have Juan Valdez’s cell number) you can usually tell what’s coming from the brew itself and what isn’t. Nguyen has other flavors but I went with this one because I was curious. Now I’m even more curious about the other concoctions because this seems perfect and balanced as-is. Black coffee can be overbearing, brutal, and aggressive. Again, sometimes you’re in the mood to wrestle your beverage before you drink it…and sometimes you just need something that’s less active. This certainly works in that department.
While it does taste light it’s not light as far as its fueling capabilities—the can purports to deliver 220mg of caffeine. As always, know your limits when it comes to caffeine, folks, and Do Not Screw Around. I did seem to feel some lift, which as always is impressive since my caffeine tolerance is equivalent to the caffeine tolerance of all of Slovakia combined.
I would go so far as to say this is the best canned black coffee I’ve had in recent memory. If you need one and this is snaggable, I would definitely say give it a try.
