Order an iced coffee in the United States:You wait in line for ten minutes.A distracted barista scoops cloudy, fast-melting crushed ice into a cup,pours lukewarm brewed coffee over it, and charges you seven dollars.Within five minutes, you are drinking watery, bitter brown liquid.Now walk into any convenience store in Tokyo on a sweltering July afternoon.Walk over to the deep freezer chest.Inside are hundreds of sealed, crystal-clear plastic cups.Peel back the foil lid.Look at the ice:It is not cloudy tap water.It is giant, hard, ultra-purified cylinders of ice, frozen slowly to eliminate all air bubbles.Ice that will not melt for two hours in 90-degree heat.You take the cup to the register, pay 140 yen (ninety cents),and place it under the digital drip machine.Press the button.The machine grinds whole coffee beans on the spot,extracts a rich, dark espresso shot under pressure,and pours it steaming-hot directly over the hard ice.The thermal shock locks in the aromatics without watering down the coffee.It is done in 25 seconds.Cost: under a dollar.Quality: superior to 90% of trendy specialty coffee shops in Manhattan.Japan took a luxury cafe beverage,deconstructed it into a self-service industrial miracle,and made it affordable for every construction worker, student, and retiree on the street.