Having lost market share in recent years to fresh coffee purveyors like Starbucks, and reeling from consumer shifts toward "healthy" drinks, Japan's ready-to-drink coffee manufacturers have been responding with a number of strategies to reinvigorate sales.
Amongst these, Kirin has been experimenting with an interesting approach. Rather than mimic Starbucks' over-the-top way with flavored coffee, Kirin is attempting subtlety with its Fire line of canned brews.
The first of the new flavor items was released in August. Dubbed "Fire Menthol," the drink is crisper than traditional canned coffees, which tend to leave you with a sticky, milky aftertaste. As you'd expect given the name, this is done through the addition of a very subtle menthol flavoring, which oddly enough, is more pleasant than expected. This isn't a "flavored coffee," but rather coffee with a "flavor accent."
In early October, Kirin fired a second shot with rum-flavored "Fire The Aroma." 
Like Fire Menthol, this drink is meant to carry a hint of flavoring, but having tried it, I'm not convinced. True, a suggestion of rum is detectable in the aroma, but the flavor was lost in a formulation that's way too heavy on milk and sugar. While Fire Menthol somewhat addresses consumer leanings toward lighter beverages, rum-flavored Aroma is old-school Japanese canned coffee. Yuck.
These new products aren't going to turn around Japanese defectors from canned joe. But they might mean that Kirin has taken a first step in revamping the category. If only they'd turn their attention to the real issue: delivering better quality coffee, rather than coffee with a new taste.
