Hotel Coffee [General]
2012 Aug 19
I found some Mr. Coffee brand filters that are just large square sheets. You can fold them to any size. I always bring them along with my own coffee and I generally buy real cream locally and keep it in the room on ice if there's no fridge. I put up with the mini hotel drip machines. In larger hotels there is usually better coffee in the exec. lounge and you can get it to go.
2012 Aug 19
It depends on if I am flying to my destination or if I'm on a road trip (and have more space to bring 'stuff').
If I can, I bring a one cup Melitta filter cone and filters. If I have a lot of room in the car I've been known to bring a grinder and an electric kettle as well. Hotels will often provide you with a kettle if you ask (probably intended for tea drinkers).
A couple of times I have been known to surgically open up the bag of coffee that they provide for those in-room coffee machines, dispose of the horrible coffee that they invariably contain, and replace it with my own better quality coffee. If you put it into the coffee machine with the right orientation, you can brew a good cup and not make a horrible mess in the process.
If I'm going to be in the hotel for a few days I buy a small carton of cream to keep in the fridge or ice-bucket since those little creamers that they provide are also pretty horrible.
The answer will also depend on my destination too. If I know there will be good coffee in walking distance, I will probably not bother bringing anything. Wherever I am I will attempt to find good local places that I can go to.
If I can, I bring a one cup Melitta filter cone and filters. If I have a lot of room in the car I've been known to bring a grinder and an electric kettle as well. Hotels will often provide you with a kettle if you ask (probably intended for tea drinkers).
A couple of times I have been known to surgically open up the bag of coffee that they provide for those in-room coffee machines, dispose of the horrible coffee that they invariably contain, and replace it with my own better quality coffee. If you put it into the coffee machine with the right orientation, you can brew a good cup and not make a horrible mess in the process.
If I'm going to be in the hotel for a few days I buy a small carton of cream to keep in the fridge or ice-bucket since those little creamers that they provide are also pretty horrible.
The answer will also depend on my destination too. If I know there will be good coffee in walking distance, I will probably not bother bringing anything. Wherever I am I will attempt to find good local places that I can go to.
2012 Aug 19
Johnny English, the only reason I took coffee with me is because I used to be in hotels about 20 nights a month and that is way too much of one's life to give over to coffee packets. Road warriors do lots of things that may seem odd to occasional travellers. I know a guy who takes a stuffed toy bunny with him everywhere.
2012 Aug 19
I'm not 20 nights a month, but I'm a couple a week. It's pretty much always the same hotel though, so I suppose I'm used to it. Their in-room coffee is garbage (Hyatt Regency), but there's a Starbucks in the lobby. I always travel with the minimum possible though, which is why it seems odd to me that someone would travel with coffee or any devices associated with it.
2012 Aug 20
I just can't stomach garbage coffee and just enjoy my morning coffee way too much to go without.
Last week a vendor came to see me at work and wanted to meet at Tim Horton's. By the time I got there they already had a coffee for me. Out of morbid curiosity I tried it because I had not had one in 6 or 7 years. Two sips are all I managed and that was it for me.
I do find Starbucks palatable but most of the other big chains are terrible too.
Once you are used to really top end coffee it is pretty difficult to settle for anything less. That's especially true if you are used to freshly roasted.
If i were just going on a business trip I'd normally take coffee and basket filters since most hotel rooms have machines that take basket. But I had my aeropress since we take it when we travel - will use it for camping and so on as well
Last week a vendor came to see me at work and wanted to meet at Tim Horton's. By the time I got there they already had a coffee for me. Out of morbid curiosity I tried it because I had not had one in 6 or 7 years. Two sips are all I managed and that was it for me.
I do find Starbucks palatable but most of the other big chains are terrible too.
Once you are used to really top end coffee it is pretty difficult to settle for anything less. That's especially true if you are used to freshly roasted.
If i were just going on a business trip I'd normally take coffee and basket filters since most hotel rooms have machines that take basket. But I had my aeropress since we take it when we travel - will use it for camping and so on as well
2012 Aug 20
Johnny English, your first response above is slightly odd for someone on a "foodies" site. It's the coffee equivalent of saying, "I wouldn't go out of my way to get good food. It's just there to fill my belly." ;-)
2012 Aug 20
FF, I realised that a bit later but there was already a reply so I couldn't edit it. What I was referring to was the idea of carrying foodstuffs and equipment with you, when I travel for business (which I do several times a month) I aim to go with nothing but my laptop bag and the smallest carry on I can get away with - the idea of carrying coffee beans, a grinder etc is a bit odd to me.
Anyway, just because someone is a "foodie" doesn't mean that they refuse to eat anything other than hand reared organic free range non-GM food, it means they have a preference and an ability to distinguish. I'll bet that plenty on here willingly and regularly eat complete crap because it's the easiest thing to do.
Anyway, just because someone is a "foodie" doesn't mean that they refuse to eat anything other than hand reared organic free range non-GM food, it means they have a preference and an ability to distinguish. I'll bet that plenty on here willingly and regularly eat complete crap because it's the easiest thing to do.
2012 Aug 20
lovetoeat, Turkish coffee is food. Much like Guinness. :-)
I would categorize caffeaphiles as a subset of foodies, as I would oenophiles and cerevisaphiles. We're all obsessed with learning and talking about what we put in our mouths!
I would categorize caffeaphiles as a subset of foodies, as I would oenophiles and cerevisaphiles. We're all obsessed with learning and talking about what we put in our mouths!
2012 Aug 20
I am on two weeks vacation, not a business trip. Normally we pregrind our coffee for our 2 weeks in NS and it stays surprisingly fresh in that time. And it is easier for me to do now that I have a commercial grinder. But we wanted to take the little hand grinder so we could do some camping videos for hard-core people (videos for some of the products we sell including the presso). Personally I would never bring anything but pre ground on a camping trip - just too much bother. For a business trip I definitely take my own coffee - have been doing so since I first started roasting my own. Just can't take a chance of finding a place with decent coffee - they are far too rare.
2012 Aug 21
OK chimi, based on my experience with pod system coffee I'm revoking your foodie credentials.
Just today I tried a Kuerig at my MIL's place. Put some of my own freshly roasted coffee in it - roasted on Friday. It turned some fantastic coffee into a pretty blase cup. Very obviously inferior to the same coffee put through my aeropress. Blech.
Just today I tried a Kuerig at my MIL's place. Put some of my own freshly roasted coffee in it - roasted on Friday. It turned some fantastic coffee into a pretty blase cup. Very obviously inferior to the same coffee put through my aeropress. Blech.
2012 Aug 21
"Normally we pregrind our coffee for our 2 weeks in NS and it stays surprisingly fresh in that time."
@zym do you have to pack the pre-ground coffee in a special vacuum sealed container or is it fine in a regular container?
I'm not a coffee drinker -- it hurts my stomach -- but I have to listen to a lot of despondent grief over substandard coffee when my husband and I travel so this thread is very helpful ;o)
@zym do you have to pack the pre-ground coffee in a special vacuum sealed container or is it fine in a regular container?
I'm not a coffee drinker -- it hurts my stomach -- but I have to listen to a lot of despondent grief over substandard coffee when my husband and I travel so this thread is very helpful ;o)
zymurgist
I used to always try to remember to bring my own grounds and basket filters, since the little in-room coffee machines take basket filters. They never provide filters because the coffee they provide is in one of the coffee bags like a tea bag.
Nowadays I use muy aeropress and use the little coffee machine to heat the water. And today I'm even using my little Porlex hand grinder to grind on demand :-)
Gotta have good coffee to start a good day!