My morning routine is simple. It starts with coffee, and eases into work. That’s true whether I’m at home or on the road.
I used to drink a lot, but now I drink less. I used to joke that you could run my blood through a still once a week to purify it and use that to run a taxi fleet experiment. I have been ordering roasted beans online from Old Bisbee Roasters for a long time. Each cup has fresh beans grinded for. Too many people water my coffee down. Whether it is inflight or in a hotel, things are a little more complicated. There is an app based coffee robot at the Austin airport. I hit the order button on my phone when I arrived at the airport. My drink is ready when I walk by the machine. The code is released to me after I enter it. I stopped for a short time and continued on.
Some Foolish People Stand in Line to Order From the Machine Instead of Downloading the AppMy Morning Airport Routine
One Mile at a Time shared his thoughts on coffee and much of our thinking is similar, though he is more positive on coffee inflight than I am.
There are a few things that go into airline coffee. The beans, the water, and the cabin pressure are included.
The best thing you can do with the grounds is use them to mask odors in the bathroom.
It's a good idea to invest in better coffee.
The value created for an airline is much higher than the price.
Delta picked up Starbucks after United Airlines dropped the coffee shop. The first attempt at a rapprochement with customers was to introduce stroopwafels and Illy coffee. The best beans of any U.S. carrier are probably being used by United, but it still suffers from the water they use and that they are making it at altitude.
It's odd that Starbucks signals quality. When United served Starbucks it was a light brew because too many passengers were overwhelmed by deeper flavors. The lowest common denominator taste was served by them.
I had a good cup of coffee. ANA provided an amazing variety of quality choices. I was too excited to try the different coffees, even though I wanted to get a good night's sleep.
The strength of what they serve is what I like the most about the coffee service from Etihad. It's just adjusting how strong the espresso is, and there's a difference between coffee and espresso, but I get the deep rich flavor as well as coffee I need after a long flight.
When the seat belt sign is on, airlines won't serve hot drinks. Another form of fail is turbulence on the way to Hong Kong after a long overnight flight.
I drink Starbucks frequently on the road, but it is effectively giving up. I will choose a hotel if it is close to a coffee shop that opens early.
Costa Coffee, Premier Inn, Abu Dhabi International Airport
Coffee shops in hotels often don't open early enough. People are arriving from all over the world. There is a good chance that guests from Europe will be up before 6 a.m. if you are on the east coast. A hotel on the west coast hosts guests from the east.
I used to stay at a W Hotel on the west coast. I woke up with coffee in my hand. The room was empty. I referred to it as the "whatever whenever" line. I wanted coffee at 5 a.m. but was told it couldn't be done before 6.
The employees who are supposed to run the hotel shop haven't shown up yet, even though they say they'll open at 6.
Hilton JFK
Coffee is likely to be better than what you can make yourself in the room, and hopefully made from equipment that gets cleaned every now and then.
I want to make sure that I leave enough time for you to use the machine. The truth is that K-cup machines are not very good for coffee. A man suggests how to hack a machine.
Insert one coffee pod into the Keurig and fill the machine’s reservoir with half the required amount of water. When the machine is finished brewing, insert another pod into the Keurig and put another half-requirement of water in the reservoir. When it’s finished brewing, you will have a full cup with twice the coffee, Bittman says.
“I’m not saying it’s any good,” Bittman says, “but at least it’s got a little body and a little flavor to it, and it probably has the amount of caffeine you’re looking for.”
W Austin
The problem with in-room coffee is that since it is bad, you probably need to cut the flavor with some sort of creamer, but it isn't going to get you what you need in a hotel room.
It is one of the reasons why I will sometimes order from room service, first hoping that it will be better than what I can make in the room, but mostly just to get a cup of coffee. I was once accused of stealing coffee from room service at a hotel.
While your home town may be great in many ways, there is a whole variety of perspectives and innovations that you can bring back with you and improve your own life in ways you wouldn't think possible.
Coffee in the US is better than it was 20 years ago. There used to be a fear that Starbucks would put coffee shops out of business. The mass consumer market for $4 cups of coffee was introduced by Starbucks. Many people graduated to more nuanced takes on coffee offered by smaller companies. Starbucks has helped independent shops prosper.
The world has been ahead of the US in coffee. I have found the very best coffee to be in Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia, despite the fact that some people swear by Italian coffee culture.
Oriole Cafe & Bar at the Pan Pacific off Orchard Road
Independent shops seem to do a better job than most places in the States and OldTown White Coffee kopitiam is located in Malaysia. It is possible that the competition is so great that the consumer tastes are developed over time.
It is true that there are many coffee shops in Austin, and the coffee in my home town is above average, but we don't compare because expectations are so high in other parts of the world.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
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