Coffee

[Hambagahle]

11 hours ago, Seadog & Sea Hag said:

Nespresso is absolutely disgusting and shouldn’t be used in a discussion of fine coffee 

Maybe the version you have in Oz tastes funny?  Nespresso is Swiss and I can assure you that here it is marvellous!   AND something like 50% of Swiss households have Nespresso machines.  That says a lot I think as we are a pretty discerning nation!

[eliana]

We have a Nespresso machine and by a process of elimination have found two types of capsules that produce coffee we enjoy,  The capsules contain real, not instant, roasted coffee grains.The problem with Illy coffee is that they use the same basic coffee and the only choice is between different roasts. There is no choice between coffee grains from different countries, and this makes all the difference. We like the taste of Colombian, but much less Brazilian and Kenyan. In an ideal world, Regent should place Nespresso machines in all suites and coffee outlets, with a choice of capsules. We would even be prepared to bring onboard our favourite capsules. 

[Hambagahle]

31 minutes ago, eliana said:

We have a Nespresso machine and by a process of elimination have found two types of capsules that produce coffee we enjoy,  The capsules contain real, not instant, roasted coffee grains.The problem with Illy coffee is that they use the same basic coffee and the only choice is between different roasts. There is no choice between coffee grains from different countries, and this makes all the difference. We like the taste of Colombian, but much less Brazilian and Kenyan. In an ideal world, Regent should place Nespresso machines in all suites and coffee outlets, with a choice of capsules. We would even be prepared to bring onboard our favourite capsules. 

And so would we!   

[gjkov]

On 12/8/2018 at 10:45 AM, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Are you guys saying that Illy coffee is used throughout the ship?  Is this true of the other ships as well?

 

And saying that Illy coffee is the best in the world is just, sorry, sIlly!  There are lots of wonderful coffees on the planet, and in my experience, none of them make it onto a cruise ship.  I'm not a huge coffee freak, but dislike dark roasts, but also dislike weak, watery coffee which seems the norm in the restaurants, at least. 

 

Onboard ship I tend to drink tea, or an occasional cappuccino

I agree with this wholeheartedly! There are so many wonderful coffees and everyone should drink what they enjoy in the way they enjoy it.

We enjoy many coffees from around the world, but current favorite is a medium roast from Kenya. In Kenya nearly all coffee beans go through a double fermentation process. Makes a very smooth brew. 

[Hambagahle]

Which is probably my problem with Regent's coffee - it is brewed.   I normally only drink espresso OR a derivative thereof - cappucino, latte, macchiato etc.  

 

However I recently discovered a "trick" -- order an espresso and then when the waiter comes to pour brewed coffee ask for half a cup.  Pour the espresso into the cup.  The result is quite a nice coffee!!

[GrJ Berkshire]

In Britain coffee is available now from many geographical locations. We find quite a difference in African grown Rwanda, Kenya to South American, Brazilian beans. Many European mixes have a greater African base than Brazilian. For real strong coffee the Indonesian and Asian coffee's like Java are the best on sale here. Agree with many not a fan of Starbucks, in UK usually will choose Cafe Nero as coffee shop of choice, then Costa over Starbucks. However it's a personal choice.

[eliana]

1 hour ago, Hambagahle said:

Which is probably my problem with Regent's coffee - it is brewed.   I normally only drink espresso OR a derivative thereof - cappucino, latte, macchiato etc.  

 

However I recently discovered a "trick" -- order an espresso and then when the waiter comes to pour brewed coffee ask for half a cup.  Pour the espresso into the cup.  The result is quite a nice coffee!!

A good idea. At breakfast we normally ask for single or double espressos in large cups and add hot water. We'll try adding the Regent pouring coffee instead. Also like GrJ we avoid Starbucks in Britain.

Edited December 11, 2018 by eliana

[Hambagahle]

9 minutes ago, eliana said:

A good idea. At breakfast we normally ask for single or double espressos in large cups and add hot water. We'll try adding the Regent pouring coffee instead. Also like GrJ we avoid Starbucks in Britain.

I avoid Starbucks anywhere in the world!  Their coffee is awful.

I like the tip of adding boiling water to a double espresso (if it is too strong that is...)  will try that too!

[eliana]

Another point. On Regent do not order an Americano, as the waiters seem to be trained to add too much water for our taste. Thus we order espressos and a separate jug of hot water. By the third day the waiters know our preferences and two espressos and a jug of water invariably arrive. We are cruising on Explorer very shortly and we will see if they remember our coffee preferences before we ask. 

[Travelcat2]

6 hours ago, eliana said:

Another point. On Regent do not order an Americano, as the waiters seem to be trained to add too much water for our taste. Thus we order espressos and a separate jug of hot water. By the third day the waiters know our preferences and two espressos and a jug of water invariably arrive. We are cruising on Explorer very shortly and we will see if they remember our coffee preferences before we ask. 

 

My DH orders a double Americano and likes it (he likes strong coffee).  Of course, what he likes and what others like could be quite different.

[daetchief]

God Bless the contributors and SMEs on Cruise Critic.   Through this and other threads I have learned about the differences between Gin’s & Tonic’s, Champagne’s, Scotch’s and now Coffees.  I’ve actually enjoyed all of those discussions and I offer the following as mostly a humorous diversion from the Luxury Cruising coffee options but also point out where to get the best ‘Joe’ on the the ships sailed by our Nation’s Finest.

 

The best coffee onboard any Navy ship can be found in the Chief Petty Officer’s Mess.  It’s the best because there is almost always a pot of coffee that is less than 20 minutes old and often a new pot being brewed if the first is more than 2/3 gone.  The coffee pots and the coffee cups for that matter are rarely if ever washed.  They are merely rinsed out between pots or cups.  Woow (sp?) be the CPO mess steward who had a fatal case of initiative and took it upon him/herself to scrub the Chief’s coffee cups clean.   

‘The worst coffee onboard any ship varies based on the time of day.  The enlisted ‘messdeck’ coffee urn held anywhere from 10 to 30 gallons of coffee.  Owning to it’s ample size, It was only refreshed twice a day;  at 0400 before breakfast and at 1600 before dinner.   Truth was, breakfast coffee and dinner coffee wasn’t half bad.  All you needed to do is wait about an hour after the urn was filled and the coffee was hot and fill bodied.   The problems with mess deck coffee started around lunch and worsened into the afternoon.  Fortunately, only the Chiefs were adicted to the witches brew and had there stash of fresh ‘joe’ back in the mess.   The dangerous times for coffee was when you had the ‘Mid-Watch’ or midnight to 0400 watch.   By then the coffee was a molasses state that resisted the inclusion of sugar or milk - which was fine, because you rarely had either.   A talented mixologist could salvage a passable cup by diluting the molasses with 3-parts hot water.   Your measuring device was the Mk1 eyeball.

The one place you never, ever went for coffee; even if you had privileges to it was the ‘wardroom’ or the officer’s mess.   It never tasted good.  Often it didn’t even taste like coffee.  It might be that they used a different grind of grounds or the recipe was somehow altered from the norm.  Those who ventured into that ‘mess’ often made an immediate visit to ‘other’ compartments if not sickbay.   

 

Now, back to the Thread:

 

How can anyone judge the worlds coffees and not mention;  

Hawaiian Kona Coffee??  It’s “No Ka’ Oi”

😅

[Hambagahle]

Daetchef - here in Switzerland we don't drink coffee all day long...so we need the "hi test" stuff - i.e. espresso.   Not brewed coffee in a jug but I do understand that in your country things are different.  when I worked in NY a group of us decided that the office coffee was awful so we changed brands.  Got a much better drink (but still brewed because that is what things were set up for...)  Then people started saying "well, it's the Europeans who have made this change" - and when I reviewed our group to see who had made the decision - yes!  We were all from Europe.

 

We shouldn't have tampered with the "national drink" !!

[orvil]

I'm an outlier.  I agree that most coffee in the US is swill.   It is improving.  I began to drink coffee in New Orleans.  Thus, I developed a taste for chicory.  It does add a certain element to the finish.  Vietnamese coffee and Indian coffee will also contain chicory.  

 

Coffee arrives from South America into the Port of New Orleans.  Then, it is roasted locally.  No one tolerates weak or bitter coffee in New Orleans.  Even the children drink café au lait.  They call it mother's milk.

[wishIweretravelling]

I found the coffee on Explorer to be largely undrinkable--even the Americano--until I discovered the french press in the Coffee Connection (or whatever they call it there). Since I was better able to control the strength, the french press was fine.  Oddly, the Americano on Navigator was fine, and even the coffee from the pitchers in the restaurants was drinkable sometimes.  Both use illy. So either it's the water, or the way it's prepared on each ship. Go figure.

[Travelcat2]

8 minutes ago, wishIweretravelling said:

I found the coffee on Explorer to be largely undrinkable--even the Americano--until I discovered the french press in the Coffee Connection (or whatever they call it there). Since I was better able to control the strength, the french press was fine.  Oddly, the Americano on Navigator was fine, and even the coffee from the pitchers in the restaurants was drinkable sometimes.  Both use illy. So either it's the water, or the way it's prepared on each ship. Go figure.

 

Navigator has a super expensive machine to make coffee in their "pretend" Coffee Connection.  We haven't sailed on Navigator in about 6 years but the last time we did we were told that the machine cost about $45,000.  This could be the difference,

 

Agree that French press on Explorer but, to my knowledge, this is not available on the other ships.