# Why is Breakfast Coffee in Irish Hotels/Guest Houses/ B&B's so vile?



## ajapale (16 Feb 2013)

[broken link removed]     by Conor Pope Irish Times.

Why is Breakfast Coffee in most Irish Hotels/Guest Houses/ B&B's so universally vile?

*Luternau:* Because they dont know how to make it properly in the first place (stale beans, stewed, too weak, served cold).
*Steiner:* Because the water they use is full of chlorine and other chemicals
*Roker:* Because they are cutting costs
*BillK:* Because they are not Italian.
*Luternau: *Because its mass produced as part of a package and not ordered specifically (as in lunch or dinner)
*Conor Pope in IT article:* because the coffee is brewed early, dumped into flasks or left on boiler plates.
*aj:* Because the machines are not cleaned properly or at all
*aj:* Because a cheap inferior or burnt coffee bean is used in the grind.
*aj:* Because together with the British (Austrialia and NZ) we have a tea culture and have not developed a coffee culture.


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## Luternau (16 Feb 2013)

I assume we are talking about filter coffee here? 
Maybe because they dont know how to make it properly in the first place, use ground beans that are not freash, leave it to stew (totally vile) make it too weak (equally vile) or dont serve it hot enough?

However, its not just in Ireland that you are likely to get poor breakfast coffee.  It par for the course right across Europe. Breakfast coffee is not made fresh, it can be made ages before its consumed. 

Whereas after dinner coffee is normally made on the spot, with fresh ground beans. You cannot compare.


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## JohnJay (16 Feb 2013)

They arent too good at making tea either. Its always cold and awful. How hard is it to boil water, pop a tea bag in to a cup and fill? Jeez, its not that hard!


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## STEINER (16 Feb 2013)

JohnJay said:


> They arent too good at making tea either. Its always cold and awful. How hard is it to boil water, pop a tea bag in to a cup and fill? Jeez, its not that hard!




Last year in a Wicklow hotel, I ordered a pot of tea in the afternoon, poured my cup, added the milk, except the milk had turned, horrible fishy taste.  I wasn't impressed.

Breakfast coffees are hit and misses, fresh is best.  Another issue would be the quality of the water.  You can't beat fresh springwater.  All these chemicals and flouride impact on taste.  Growing up, the tea/coffee was made with the well/handpump water, not with the tapwater.


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## roker (16 Feb 2013)

They are all cutting costs


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## BillK (16 Feb 2013)

It's because they're not Italian.

In the small town in which we live there are five cafes in a very small area, including two multinationals. The Italian café provides the real thing; a black Americano you could trot a mouse across. It is also the cheapest of the five c


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## Marion (16 Feb 2013)

I always ask for an americano if I stay over in a hotel and breakfast is included in the price. 

I would have plain hot water in preference to the general offering.

I have a good coffee machine at home that is used daily.

Marion


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## Luternau (16 Feb 2013)

BillK said:


> It's because they're not Italian.
> 
> In the small town in which we live there are five cafes in a very small area, including two multinationals. The Italian café provides the real thing; a black Americano you could trot a mouse across. It is also the cheapest of the five c



So you have to be staying in an Italian owned bb or hotel in Ireland to have good coffee? ;-)
I don't think thats the solution/answer to the question posed!


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## ajapale (16 Feb 2013)

ajapale said:


> [broken link removed]     by Conor Pope Irish Times.
> 
> Why is Breakfast Coffee in most Irish Hotels/Guest Houses/ B&B's so universally vile?



Thanks for all your suggested answers! Ill summarise them along with my own in the OP.

I find it strange that Irish Hotels can provide a really excellent product in allmost every other respect but that breakfast coffee is almost universally vile.

This is an issue that Fáilte Ireland needs to take up. Try searching TripAdvisor for Irish hotels and coffee!

Marion, I like your suggestion and the next time Im staying Ill ask for an americano for breakfast or else a discount to offset the price of a decent cup of coffee.

It is strange that the same hotels can offer really good coffee at dinner time but come morning often in the same dining room they serve up this vile concoction.

I used to think this was related to the fact that traditionally we were a tea drinking nation and that we simply dont know how to make coffee. I thought that the days of the B&B lady pouring scalding water onto "Mild" "Chickory Infused" instant powdered coffee in a stainless steel pot were over but apparently not

BillK*, *The coffee in my local Caffola's is pretty bad but not as bad as in my local Chinese's.


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## Eithneangela (16 Feb 2013)

Ajapale, Bord Failte no longer exists - it is now Failte Ireland. As for the bad breakfast coffees in Irish establishments, I think it may be due to the fact that most of the breakfast is prepared in advance, maybe apart from the eggs, and there is no one trained/able to make good coffee. The breakfast kitchen and waiting staff in these establishments have different 'skills'.


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## ajapale (16 Feb 2013)

Thanks Eithne,

I've edited the reference to Bord Failte!

I find it strange that all other aspects of the hotel experience in Ireland is to a quite a high (and improving) standard but that the provision of palatable coffee in the morning cannot be arranged.

Ive often wondered how the relatively untrained employees of breakfast places in North America can produce a consistent pleasant tasting breakfast brew but this cant be replicated here.

aj


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## Marion (16 Feb 2013)

How difficult is it to press a couple of buttons on a coffee  machine?


Marion


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## mercman (16 Feb 2013)

Marion said:


> How difficult is it to press a couple of buttons on a coffee  machine?



We're not really well known for multi-tasking in this country especially early in the morning.


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## Luternau (16 Feb 2013)

Marion said:


> How difficult is it to press a couple of buttons on a coffee  machine?
> 
> 
> Marion



Breakfast coffee in hotels is generally mass produced filter coffee BECAUSE it's not being ordered specifically or paid for specifically as happens at lunch/dinner. At those times, you get different coffee (hopefully) and nicer coffee (hopefully)....neither guaranteed.

As I said earlier, this is not just an Irish problem. It happens in Europe too.


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## ajapale (16 Feb 2013)

Yes Luternau, I agree, they serve the same vile concoction when catering for weddings and similar functions.


There is noting wrong with properly brewed filter coffee as evidenced in North America.


Because this happens elsewhere in Europe is not really an excuse. I've travelled in the Nordic countries and the breakfast coffee has all ways been excellent as it is in Holland.



			
				ConorPope writing in Irish Times said:
			
		

> in Austria, the home of 19th-century cafe society,..the hotels consistently serve good coffee.





Marion said:


> How difficult is it to press a couple of buttons on a coffee  machine? Marion



I think it takes some skill and attention to detail to ensure the machine is clean, and is filled with good water, and has the correct amount of a decent blend of fresh coffee. And having brewed the coffee that it is served hot and not allowed stew on a hot plate.


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## DrMoriarty (17 Feb 2013)

Making and drinking bad coffee is just part of our DNA, I think. 

If you want to protect yourself — I've no hard scientific evidence, but I suspect that the hideousness of the coffee in Irish guesthouses and B&Bs can be reliably predicted by other tell-tale signs:

Patterned wallpaper; dado rails; matching pelmets and swags; porcelain geese flying in diagonal formation over the fireplace.
Gilt-framed sepia-toned Sacred Heart picture in the hallway or staircase (must be visible from front door).
In the "good room", abundant framed photos of offspring in First Holy Communion outfits/graduation robes (depending on age profile). Chromed plastic sporting trophies prominently arranged on mantlepiece, bookshelves and all available surfaces (these will of course be for "proper" sports, i.e. hurling or Gaelic football). 
Waterford glass golf prizes, especially large functionless lumps of engraved glass. N.B. It is essential that the Waterford glass label, however blanched from washing, be retained and facing fowards for ease of verification.
Repeated, unsolicited assurances from the _bean a tí_ to the effect that (a) breakfast service ends at 10am sharp, (b) said breakfast is the finest available for several counties around, bar none.
I'm sure others can add to the list.

My solution is fairly simple. I drink coffee at home, and tea when I'm out.


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## Purple (17 Feb 2013)

Irish breakfast coffee is bad but it's undrinkable in England. I an a coffee drinker but I never order it in England or most places in the UK. They make it very weak and it tastes like they let it sit overnight. 
I generally like Irish hotels and think it's one area where we are way ahead of the rest of Northern Europe for value and quality.


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## ajapale (18 Feb 2013)

Purple said:


> I generally like Irish hotels and think it's one area where we are way ahead of the rest of Northern Europe for value and quality.



I agree but would not include the Nordic Countries in the category. Coffee is good, consistent but a little expensive in these countries (Sweden and Finland).

In addition to breakfast have you noticed that the coffee served at conferences even in top drawer hotel venues in Ireland is often of the same poor quality?


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## IsleOfMan (18 Feb 2013)

I like oranbge juice for my breakfast. I have had some of the worst orange juice down in Southern Spain for my breakfast. Certainly not freshly squeezed.


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## Purple (18 Feb 2013)

ajapale said:


> I agree but would not include the Nordic Countries in the category. Coffee is good, consistent but a little expensive in these countries (Sweden and Finland).
> 
> In addition to breakfast have you noticed that the coffee served at conferences even in top drawer hotel venues in Ireland is often of the same poor quality?



I was commenting about Irish hotels in general terms.

I agree that our breakfast coffee isn't good.
I have found the best breakfast coffee in France and Germany. I haven't travelled enough in Italy to comment on their breakfast coffee.


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## mathepac (19 Feb 2013)

Purple said:


> I was commenting about Irish hotels in general terms.
> 
> I agree that our breakfast coffee isn't good. ...


The best I've had was when the coffee tasted of the "Duraglit" stuff used to clean the coffee-pot.



Purple said:


> ...
> I have found the best breakfast coffee in France and Germany. I haven't  travelled enough in Italy to comment on their breakfast coffee.


Austria & Switzerland have been some of the best I've tasted followed by Belgium (1st choice for pizzas too). The further south I've travelled, the worse the coffee seems to get


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