Here’s a bit of a minor airport lounge coffee rant. Both the Seattle Centurion lounge and Alaska Airlines lounge have coffee bars. Depending on the flavor of espresso, if it’s especially bitter I will take just the tiniest drop of half and half per espresso shot to cut it. For a latte, I enjoy it creamy and have a preference for whole milk. Neither American Express nor Alaska Airlines offer whole milk at their coffee bars. And I get it, I really do.
Alaska Airlines announced “Starbucks-trained baristas” and lack of whole milk as standard is certainly Starbucks-consistent.
Starbucks moved to 2% as their default in 2007, though in stores whole milk is available on request. And airport lounges often aren’t going to stock low volume perishable items. Plus, Seattle coffee culture is predominantly oat milk.
Blue Bottle says oat milk represents 63% of their selections. Stumptown, Blue Bottle, and Onyx default to oat mile, with Stumptown says dairy has fallen to about 30% of orders.
And I’m a bit of an outlier with my preference for whole milk in a latte.
- Traditional mass market coffee defaults to 2%.
- The modern specialty default is now oat.
- The diet-conscious choice might be nonfat.
- Someone looking for a richer coffee might ask for half and half (‘breve’) but I find that way overdoes it.
Whole milk isn’t the default, the healthy option, the plant-based option, or even the indulgent option. It’s an orphan. And in a constrained environment like an airport lounge in Seattle, I’m the odd preference out. That leads me likely to just order a double espresso, but if the espresso isn’t very good I’ll want it just cut with hot water (Americano).
Fortunately, there are other parts of the country that are simply more enlightened. American Express has ‘Blue Roast’ coffee shops in their New York JFK and Salt Lake City lounges. In New York I’ve been able to get whole milk.
There’s even barista coffee at United’s Club Fly in Denver. I don’t recall whole milk there, but Houston offers it.
And Capital One’s New York JFK lounge ‘bodega’ (which serves ess-a-bagels, lox, pastrami and even smoked whitefish salad) offers barista coffee and their menu lists whole milk.
The Capital One lounge coffee bar at Washington Dulles has whole milk as well.
I really appreciate a good coffee, and I’m usually not going to get it on board most flights. The trend towards coffee bars in lounges is one I much appreciate. But at the end of the day, I’m just more New York than Seattle I guess. And it makes sense that I managed to survive living in D.C. for 18 years, as well.
This is correct. Cappuccinos need whole milk. Drip coffee should be enjoyed black.
My coffee consumption my entire life has been under two ounces. So, I honestly ask the following? Wouldn’t a dise of 2% with a splash of half-and-half be equivalent? Certainly it would in fat content, but would the flavor be different?
@Peter, I see the coffee police are in force this morning.
@Gary —> Obviously a first world problem, but there are — like you and me — people take their coffee seriously. (I took it so seriously that, 20 years ago, I purchased a commercial espresso machine and had it plumbed into our kitchen’s water line.) I am just grateful that an airport lounge has a real live barista and not just a super-automatic on a counter that is generally out-of-order anyway. But it’s an airport lounge: I’m just happy they have something that comes from a cow…
Try being a Sprite Zero obsessive
Try getting a cup of tea with milk in the United States. The water won’t be hot enough, the tea will be extremely low quality and you will never find real milk.
There are quite a few barista focused oat milks out there that are very dense and creamy. Gary if you’re faced with the choice of 2% cow milk and barista oat milk, try the oat!
The current guidance is that whole diary is in fact good for you. Don’t get the plug for drip coffee or oat milk. must not be my day.
I stopped going to McDonald’s after they defaulted to Whole Milk as their only milk option. I can’t do Whole Milk so they lost me but I guess you are their target?
My problem is finding lactose free milk anywhere that’s not plant based..
I’ve tried soy in my espresso but it gets weirdly clumpy and looks very unappetizing. Don’t really like the flavor of oat or rice milk either..
Funny thing is during my travels I’ve found almost every cafe in Zurich has lactosefree whole milk while almost none carry it in the US or Japan. The latter has a big population of lactose intolerant individuals, but seems like the plant based alternatives have taken hold there since I can’t always find it in supermarkets either.
@Peter — Thank you, officer!