Coffee on HAL

[palaemon]

We'll be sailing the Eurodam in November, and I am an Iced Coffee drinker (iced regular in the AM and iced decaf in the PM.)

 

my question: Is the coffee in the buffet (coffee machines) brewed or "from concentrate?"

 

I don't need specialty coffee - just black with sweetener, maybe cream if it's bitter/strong (and ice - I'll probably bring a reusable tumbler for the coffee.)

 

Also do they have stevia on HAL?

 

TIA

 

Palaemon

[Lido deck main]

I went on a kitchen tour last cruise about 5 months ago, we ask the chef about the coffee, and he showed us the bags of beans and said HAL brews their coffee it is not from concentrate.   I don’t know about whether they have stevia.

[jebhoward3]

As of 2/2018 no stevia.  Have been on NCL & Princess since then and no stevia.   I always bring my own as I prefer my "green" sweetener.   All lines seem to have white, pink, yellow, and blue sweeteners.   Most have brown (raw sugar) and packets of honey.

[photomikey]

I believe the coffee is made from grounds on HAL.  I separate coffee into two categories, "good" and "almost drinkable", and HAL coffee is definitely in the good category.

[palaemon]

Wonderful! Thank you ALL for the good info.

[OlsSalt]

DH is a real coffee afficianado and now directly imports coffee beans for home use from distributers we found on shore adventures in Chiapas, Mexico and Puntarenas, Costa Rica (Shade Lady and Argovia). He thinks regular HAL coffee is great.

 

I loved the Sumatra coffee they used to serve at the now discontinued Indonesian Tea, but this might still be available at the Pinnacle restuarant. Dutch have a long and strong coffee history in Indonesia.

Edited March 5, 2019 by OlsSalt

[Skipper's Mom]

No Stevia as of December 2018.  The staff is always interested when I bring out my Stevia packs.

[Krazy Kruizers]

No Sumatra coffee in the Pinnacle.

[Moriah]

4 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

DH is a real coffee afficianado and now directly imports coffee beans for home use from distributers we found on shore adventures in Chiapas, Mexico and Puntarenas, Costa Rica (Shade Lady and Argovia). He thinks regular HAL coffee is great.

 

By "regular HAL coffee" do you mean the coffee served in the Lido? Do you know if it is different from what is served in the specialty restaurants or the MDR?

[OlsSalt]

42 minutes ago, Moriah said:

By "regular HAL coffee" do you mean the coffee served in the Lido? Do you know if it is different from what is served in the specialty restaurants or the MDR?

 

By regular I meant the "free" stuff - Lido and MDR.

 

Don't know what brands they use for the surcharge specialty coffees in the MDR, Explorations Cafe or surcharge restaurants,  but all reports so far have been good as I recall. Don't know about the Dutch Cafe on the newest ships either. We just go with the free stuff.  

 

Actually, when cruising I switch to black tea --  the Lido has the very good PG Tips packets, as well as other commercial tea bags - flavored and herbals.  They used to offer a very nice HAL house brand darjeeling tea, but I think that has been eliminated. 

[Moriah]

Just now, OlsSalt said:

 

By regular I meant the "free" stuff - Lido and MDR.

 

 

Thanks. I think things have improved over the years.  I remember when the Lido coffee was literally (for me) undrinkable.  I like Explorations Cafe but they open later than I get up (I'm a very early morning person) and having a decent cup available on the Lido sounds good. I'll give it another try this summer on Amsterdam. 

 

[MTAK]

1 hour ago, Moriah said:

By "regular HAL coffee" do you mean the coffee served in the Lido? Do you know if it is different from what is served in the specialty restaurants or the MDR?

 

To us the coffee in the MDR seemed much better than the Lido, but I don't have an explanation as to why that would be. Possibly differing processes or personnel?

[fatcat04]

19 minutes ago, Moriah said:

Thanks. I think things have improved over the years.  I remember when the Lido coffee was literally (for me) undrinkable.  I like Explorations Cafe but they open later than I get up (I'm a very early morning person) and having a decent cup available on the Lido sounds good. I'll give it another try this summer on Amsterdam. 

 

On our NA cruise last month I was happy to see the Explorations Cafe opened at 6:30am. Between that and  room service, we wrote "Strong" next to coffee on the door card and it was perfect, we had good coffee every morning. 👍