Coffee Cream not Milk on QM2

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Sort of except one version is covered in chocolate too. Perfect heaven!

 Now that is a whole different ball game.

[Winifred 22]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

You can order cream for coffee from room service so it will be available in any of the bars and restaurants. Just ask for coffee with cream.

 

I don’t know how many of these I have filled out and have never spotted cream as an option. I always ask fo hot milk. I always have a coffee or hot chocolate every morning at 7 30 even if I don’t have any food. 

[CapeCodCruiser]

3 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

You can order cream for coffee from room service so it will be available in any of the bars and restaurants. Just ask for coffee with cream.

 

Thank you!

[Underwatr]

As long as we're discussing distinctions, here are the US terms per government regulation
 

• Light cream: 18-30% milkfat
• Light whipping cream: 30-36% milkfat
• Heavy whipping cream: at least 36% milkfat
• Half and half: 10.5-18% milkfat

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Underwatr said:

As long as we're discussing distinctions, here are the US terms per government regulation
 

• Light cream: 18-30% milkfat
• Light whipping cream: 30-36% milkfat
• Heavy whipping cream: at least 36% milkfat
• Half and half: 10.5-18% milkfat

 

Having lived in Ireland -   Double Cream is incredible and not available in the U.S.   It is around 48% Butter Fat.    An luscious Clotted Cream comes in at a artery clogging  55%

 

I was doing a Software install at a Dairy Company (DairyGold) in Seattle and learned that many states have stringent regulations on the exact butter fat content of 1%, 2%, Skim and Whole Milk.    I was surprised to learn that when the raw milk first arrives it is separated into Skim and Cream and then it is remixed and homogenized to the various states specification. 

[exlondoner]

9 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Having lived in Ireland -   Double Cream is incredible and not available in the U.S.   It is around 48% Butter Fat.    An luscious Clotted Cream comes in at a artery clogging  55%

 

I was doing a Software install at a Dairy Company (DairyGold) in Seattle and learned that many states have stringent regulations on the exact butter fat content of 1%, 2%, Skim and Whole Milk.    I was surprised to learn that when the raw milk first arrives it is separated into Skim and Cream and then it is remixed and homogenized to the various states specification. 

If I were a Jersey cow, I’d feel horribly inadequate.

[exlondoner]

You may also be thrilled to know that, in the UK, at any rate, milk from Channel Island (Jersey and Guernsey) cows should have a higher butterfat content than that from other cows.

[Pushpit]

13 hours ago, Underwatr said:

As long as we're discussing distinctions, here are the US terms per government regulation
 

• Light cream: 18-30% milkfat
• Light whipping cream: 30-36% milkfat
• Heavy whipping cream: at least 36% milkfat
• Half and half: 10.5-18% milkfat

 

When you ask for cream in coffee in the USA, one normally gets the widely available Half and half, which is inexpensive and can be UHT, so can be served in blister pots in venues such as hotel bedrooms. Supermarkets sell "fresh" and UHT versions of Half and half. The exception will be places like Starbucks where it's more usually milk, but go to a hotel or restaurant or on board an aircraft, "cream" means Half and half. The range is above, a typical figure is 12% fat, and that's a key fact here. Half milk (2%) and half heavy cream (22%) = 12% simplistically.

 

In the UK Half and half is difficult to obtain, and that goes for Cunard's main victualling port, Southampton. Legally it cannot be sold as cream not least due to the emulsifiers and sweeteners that are put into Half and half. If you want to see that in action, look closely at Elmlea's "cream" range - you will see they use all sorts of wording to give the impression it's cream, such as "deliciously creamy taste" but it's falls out of the EU and UK's definition of cream. It's got vegetable fat, emulsifiers in it. USA also mandates vitamin supplements in milk (vitamin D) and that's not allowed in Europe.  Flour is the other way around but that's another story.

 

UK's core cream products are Single Cream = 8% fat and Double Cream = 22% fat. One would normally use Single cream for coffee in the UK (and cream tea certainly does not mean cream in tea!). Double cream is so dense that it doesn't work well in coffee and at some temperatures it will curdle. And here you see the point of Half and half - by mixing in milk and emulsifiers, you avoid the curdling but get a creamier taste than Single cream. In my case when in the USA I also need well under half the amount of dairy product which means the coffee is hotter for longer. A little goes a long way.

 

So to go back to the question, in the staterooms you will find UHT milk sticks, full and semi-skimmed, 4% and 2% respectively. You can order cream in various locations, it's going to be 8% cream. The Illy products will be based on milk since that's the Italian way. 

 

So if you are a fan of Half and half you may want to bring some blister pots with you, easily obtained, or keep a fresh pint pack in the fridge. I can tell the difference between 4% and 2% milk, so I'm sure many people can tell the difference between 12% and 8% cream,

Edited October 18, 2023 by Pushpit

[exlondoner]

Can you legally import milk into the UK/EU?

[Host Hattie]

59 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Can you legally import milk into the UK/EU?

No, only from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Faroe Islands and Greenland

https://www.gov.uk/bringing-food-into-great-britain/meat-dairy-fish-animal-products

 

 

[david63]

2 hours ago, Pushpit said:

Double cream is so dense that it doesn't work well in coffee

I remember the days when you poured double cream over the back of a spoon so that it floated on the top of the coffee.

 

Personally I cannot stand cream in coffee and will drink it either black or with a splash of milk.

[bunny76]

I've had cream with breakfast room service on QM2, as Host Hattie says, and also had the choice of pouring (single)cream or whipped cream when I asked for some in Kings Court. 

[Pushpit]

"Half and half" should be in a silver jug in Kings Court, by the coffee machines.

[D&N]

On 10/18/2023 at 11:32 AM, Pushpit said:

USA also mandates vitamin supplements in milk (vitamin D) and that's not allowed in Europe.

Didn't notice that when you originally posted.

UHT Semi-skimmed milk is a really big seller in France. Unusual to see a family's shopping cart without a couple of packs. We normally buy this brand, because it's often on a multibuy offer but it does have added vitamin D. We use it for my porridge and my wife's tea.

Creme-fraiche is common from the chiller cabinet but cream is rare and not single/double. Again UHT is far more common in fluid or semi-thick.

 

 

 

[MrsPeel55]

On 10/17/2023 at 9:39 AM, exlondoner said:

Or embrace the joy of travel and have something slightly different.

 

agree with this 🙂

 

On 10/17/2023 at 3:49 PM, Host Hattie said:

You can order cream for coffee from room service so it will be available in any of the bars and restaurants. Just ask for coffee with cream.

 

 

Don't remember if we asked for cream on room service, but I asked and was given cream in my coffee at lunch and dinner 🙂

 

As for the amount of cream designations in the UK... I have to admit I was puzzled because in the cites I lived in Brazil & Argentina, there was only cream, which you could use to whip too, well, this was way before the internet. Here in England, my mother in law gave me the explanation about fat contents and what to use in which case, great, but....

 

I had fallen in love in the USA with "creamers" which I tried both in liquid and powdered form. After looking intensely where (London), I found the only one available to buy, which was Coffee Mate, only that one flavour, original or light, red and blue lids, but nothing like the flavour galore I had in the US, anyway, was fine...only  we have been unable to find the light one for almost a year now, the red is so intensely sweet, but even if I wanted to buy, it has gone up so much in price, it isn't worth it.