Japan didn’t grow up with coffee. Tea was sacred. Coffee? Too bitter. So Nestlé didn’t fight the culture. They played the long game. Instead of selling coffee to adults... They made coffee-flavored candy for kids. Kitkats. Hard candies. Treats with a hint of roast. To children, it was just sweet fun. To Nestlé? It was tastebud training. They were building memory. Comfort. Familiarity. So when those kids grew up... The flavor wasn’t strange. It felt like home. By the 1990s, Japan had a new genera