$4 billion didn't fix the coffee at LGA
 

After years without seeing LGA, I am finding myself there more and more. Where do you get coffee that isn't terrible? I have tried those silly places where you order on one screen but pay at another by D92 and the World Bean in the food hall by C42. Both of those places suck. The coffee is way too acidic. I even gave each place 3 attempts, but it's always the same awful coffee. The airplane coffee is better and that still sucks.

Keurig in the crew room is always pretty solid. But if you’re in and out of C terminal, yeah, I don’t think the coffee at those places is any good.

I've been known to carry a pour over kit in my flight bag. I'll grind up some beans before I leave the house and throw them in a zip lock baggy. Pack some filters then all you need is hot water and you're in business. A lot of places will give you some hot water, or in the room I just run the water through the coffee maker. Gotta treat yoself when you can, life is too short to drink crap coffee! I have the BRCC kit in this video, but it appears it's no longer available. Plenty other good options.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2IGxVcXB8E

I throw some kirkland cold brew cans in my bag before I leave the house in case I can’t snag coffee or need a pick me up and grabbing coffee isn’t possible. Cup of ice from the galley and you’re in business. Bonus if you can find some milk/cream. Doesn’t help if you want something hot of course.

Ice...milk/cream...in your coffee?!?! I award you no points... I can't get the llama staring at the camera gif or the James Franco standing up in disgust gif to load, but just imagine they are both in this post! :D

Aeropress mini and a porlex mini grinder, travel kettle. Never worry about bad coffee again

Ha! Let me guess you like hot, black coffee because “this is the way we’ve always done it”? ;)

I submit because that is the way it is good. :D

For what it is worth, I have the BRCC instant packets as well as instant packets from Nutrient Survival. I put them on par with maybe Folgers. Meh.
The chemex at the house will not fit in my bag. I need to look into the smaller pour overs.

I drink the airplane coffee, because I'm an Airline Pilot.

And here I thought we didn’t agree on much. Chapeau

I'll second the Aeropress Mini. Bring some of your favorite grounds from home (a little finer ground than normal works best. You do grind your own, right?;)) Get some hot water from the FAs and you're in biz. Simple. Easy. Makes a great cup of joe.

That's a lot of words to answer the OP. Simply put: no, there is nowhere to get a good cup of coffee in LGA.

I’m actually a neophyte when it come to coffee (thanks to WuFlu), but a finer grind for a press? My burr grinder says fine is for espresso, medium for pour over/drip, and coarse for presses.
So, yes, I do grind my beans. Yes, I might be a snob. And no, I do not know what I am talking about.

French press and aeropress are different. The aeropress, with a short steep time and paper filter, can stand a smaller grind. French press has a long steep time (usually 4 mins or so) and a stainless mesh filter, so you go coarser to lessen sediment


as always, experiment for your tastes.

Already learned something new today. Much obliged, OOfff.

I'll add to OOfffs (very well stated) post. An Aeropress uses a bit of pressure (you pushing it down) in the brew process to force the water through the grounds vs a French press where you're really just steeping grounds in hot water and then straining the brewed coffee when you push the grounds to the bottom. So in a way, the aeropress process is not dissimilar to how an espresso machine brews which is why it stands to use a finer ground. I even find you get a pleasant bit of creaminess/smoothness (like an espresso) with an aeropress that you don't get with a drip, pour over or French press.

You get the prize for “Best Thread Title of the Month”. Luckily I rarely pass through Laguardia anymore. I do however drink airplane coffee on a regular basis. Addicts can’t be picky all the time. You should know this.

The New LGA is quite the tribute to the Delta Brand but finding food and coffee can be a challenge, especially on a tight turn. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d7b469d1a4.jpg

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The coffee isn’t great, but it is $1, and I am a pilot after all…

That’s what I was thinking. Is there a better tasting $1 cup of coffee in any other airport? I haven’t found one.


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going through TSA Precheck- “it’s not mine! That’s not my bag, baby, really it’s not mine!”

i have an aeropress and really like it, btw. Don’t use it much what with an espresso machine on the counter. But it’s a eally good cup.

Does this thread mean I'm going to start seeing coffee grounds all over the center console now too?

the $1 cup over at the new gates (92-98) is tiny. 8 oz I think

Well maybe on some airplanes... but I think the 737 drivers are drinking the airplane coffee, black. It's those fancy Airbus pilots with their french press and tray tables!

This is me, slowing becoming more a coffee snob without having any idea what I’m doing or talking about.

nothing in my coffee setup is TSA prohibited.

I am a much bigger fan of the next gates over where the salad bar used to be (still food just no salad bar last time I was there). The breakfast bagels are decent and the 30% off is clutch. Coffee is still crap though.

Hey, like what you like! Liking Folgers crystals over expensive organo-vegan coffee only touched by the light of the moon doesn't make you more or less of a snob than the next person. I've got a friend who works for Starbucks and often shares some of their "really good" Reserve stuff. Truth be told, some of it is good, VERY good. And some of it I'd rather pour out and have a cup of Pike Place.

An option I picked up during the great airplane coffee drought of 2020 was a a plastic Melitta pour over cone (takes #2 cone filters), which fits nicely on my contigo travel mug for brewing. Since I don't like/trust the coffee makers in hotel rooms (and I like the option of not using the algae infused water on the airplane) I bough a silicone collapsible travel kettle (search on amazon) that boils up to half a liter of water. Have a bag of my fav grind and voila, hot coffee that doesn't suck. The kettle works on the plug in the cockpit of the 330 and 73.

Whole situation works well, lasts long time.

Charging stuff is one thing. When people start setting up a kitchen in the cockpit it gives me pause.

Definitely agree with this solution. Aeropress is awesome.

I always start my line check offering the LCP a freshly ground cup of coffee and a warmed up croissant from my travel toaster oven. Yes we push 20 late, but I wouldn’t dream of doing WARTS without it.

I did know of a captain in the regionals who would pop out his griddle in the galley during the mornings and start making breakfast.

Plane coffee.

2 creams.

2 sugars.

“What checklist you want, boss?”

*giardia enters the chat*

I've been drinking airplane coffee for over a decade and crappy FBO coffee for a decade prior to that, and so far I've had absolutely no adverddddzzzzzssww esjhfiktm dkfnmg mcmcjgnmtm.

Miata.

There is a Dunkin in every other LGA terminal, hopefully they'll add another to the C terminal when it's finished.

Dunkin’ screwed it all up when they ditched the super sized styrofoam cup that kept their non pretentious coffee warm for hours in favor of paper.

Really the only thing they had going for it.

Even in a hotel room vs the cockpit, this is key.

It's possible you missed an Austin Powers reference

It was the lid that made it better. The paper cup lids suck, dribble easier and go from zero to burn a lot faster. For consistency though, Dunkin is hard to beat. It may never be the best, but its never the worst either.

Some instants are better than the Folgers/Sankas of yore. Better than many of the airport coffees too. Good enough for their main purpose, which we all know ain't pontificating over the subtle notes of dark chocolate and saddle leather at 5AM.

Correct! Now it's cold in 20 minutes.