Coffee at the 7-Eleven

7-Eleven, Mills and Main, Ventura

 

In 1985, I read an article in Spin by Henry Rollins singing the praises of the 7-Eleven. I wasn’t really a 7-Eleven guy, though, and on the rare times I bought food from convenience stores it was from AM-PM because they used to have the cheapest gas. Generally, I don’t buy anything from convenience stores beyond the occasional Slurpee/Icee/Froster.

That changed when my daughters showed me this machine at our new 7-Eleven:


This is the latte machine.

Yes, the latte machine. I'm not really a latte drinker, finding that the extra two or more dollars didn’t make my coffee two dollars better. I like lattes, and if you’re buying I’ll have one, but I’m not willing to pay for it. 

Choose the Bold!

But here at the 7-Eleven, the vanilla latte does not cost extra. The machine grinds the beans fresh (‘bean to cup’ in coffee talk), and then brews it up, adding in the steamed milk and vanilla. Since you are making it, you can add an extra pump of vanilla from the counter, as well as a dash of cinnamon, which is how I do it. True, the machine doesn’t do the swirl at the top, but I’ve never found the swirl to add any flavor.

Add Some Vanilla

The extra large latte comes in at $2.89 (less if you bring your own cup), while the Tall Vanilla Latte at Starbucks next door costs around $6.75, meaning it’s half the size for a little over twice the cost. The obvious question is whether the 7-Eleven latte is as good as the Starbucks latte, and Starbucks will be happy to know that it isn’t. However, is the Starbucks latte twice as good, justifying the cost? 

No, the Starbucks coffee is not twice as good. The biggest difference is that the Starbucks Latte is usually hotter, something that I can fix by going down a size in the cup (pushing the button for the large and putting it in the extra large cup), and then topping it off with their fresh roasted drip coffees. In fact, I know that I’ve paid for lattes far more expensive then 7-Eleven that weren’t as good. If I'm just drinking the latte while driving, the 7-Eleven is perfect.

Brewed Coffees

The downside of this is that not all 7-Elevens have the fancy machine, though according to C-Store Dive, some sort of online convenience store trade website, they will all be moving that way by the end of 2025. Of the four 7-Elevens here in Ventura, only the one on the corner of Main and Mills has it. I’ve actually only found one other 7-Eleven with the fancy coffee machine (and I’ve looked, too), and that was in Walnut across from Mt. San Antonio College.

If you come across this, and know of where the fancy coffee machine is, add it in the comments.

7-Eleven, Japan

Fresh Food Shelf-All Good!

7-Eleven, Iwakuni, Japan

On another 7-Eleven note, if you’ve heard about the 7-Elevens in Japan, it’s all true. When the Summer Olympics were in Tokyo in 2020, I read and saw several rave reviews about the food options at the 7-Eleven stores. People talked about the fresh food, low prices, and 24 hour convenience, and when my son was stationed in Japan, I asked him about it. He said the 7-Elevens have everything, and when we visited him and stayed in Hiroshima, the 7-Eleven was the first store I went into. It was amazing. 7-Eleven was the most convenient and cheapest place to change money (I used my ATM card and withdrew cash from my account in Yen), we bought tickets to see the Hiroshima Carp play, I was in every morning for breakfast (melon pan, banana, coffee), bought coffee several times, and since neither my wife nor my son care for sushi, it was the only place I had sushi (except for the fugu restaurant). 7-Eleven was everywhere, and it was the go-to place for snacks and cash. 7-Eleven made the trip to Japan better.