Amtrak Dining and Cafe Service discussion 2024 H2

[railiner]

It's been a while since I've been on a Viewliner but I believe the coffee maker was a Douwe Egberts machine that uses liquid coffee concentrate that's mixed with hot water.

Yuk! Princess Cruises used to use liquid coffee concentrate, and had the reputation for the worst coffee at sea. They have since improved with regular ground coffee.

 

[PVD]

I haven't seen one of those machines on a train in a while. They sell quite a few different concentrates, and some are very good, and some are certainly not. Also, they need to be kept clean and have a good water supply. The one thing they do provide is the ability to have 24 hr service without too much of a hassle. A route like the AutoTrain (limited morning travel) it could make sense.

 

[toddinde]

Yes, we are a nation of slobs.

I haven’t noticed anyone particularly dressing up in European trains, and there aren’t a whole lot with dining cars. But generally, Europeans dress better than Americans.

 

[eackly]

I haven't seen one of those machines on a train in a while. They sell quite a few different concentrates, and some are very good, and some are certainly not. Also, they need to be kept clean and have a good water supply. The one thing they do provide is the ability to have 24 hr service without too much of a hassle. A route like the AutoTrain (limited morning travel) it could make sense.

A buddy of mine from my undergrad days, designs coffee machine for BUN and I have tried liquid concentrate coffee at his house and my unrefined palette could not tell the difference between it and ground coffee.

With that said, he has said that it needs to be a quality liquid coffee of which there is a lot of variation from very cheap to high quality.

Burger King for the longest time used liquid coffee from Douwe Egberts and it was pretty bad.

I have no idea if it is even feasible for AMTRAK to purchase and install liquid coffee dispensers.

 

[railiner]

This is used in a couple of different lounges on my current cruise ship. Makes a freshly ground, from beans, variety of french press coffee drinks. Delicious!
Might be a bit too large for just a single sleeper use.

 

[alanh]

Found a pic of the Viewliner II coffee station. It's just an insulated carafe which I assume they fill in the diner or cafe. There are outlets for a coffee maker but aren't being used,


Here's the Superliner urn.

 

[UserNameRequired]

Found a pic of the Viewliner II coffee station. It's just an insulated carafe which I assume they fill in the diner or cafe. There are outlets for a coffee maker but aren't being used,


...

Interesting, a 15 Amp 250 Volt outlet. Would a coffee maker they could have used have a water supply too?

 

[Willbridge]

Found a pic of the Viewliner II coffee station. It's just an insulated carafe which I assume they fill in the diner or cafe. There are outlets for a coffee maker but aren't being used,


Here's the Superliner urn.

The Superliner urn always looks like someone just thought of it the day before. On the other hand, if it goes bad order, it can just be pitched out.

 

[Asher]

I haven’t noticed anyone particularly dressing up in European trains, and there aren’t a whole lot with dining cars. But generally, Europeans dress better than Americans.

Nice suit and tie, no deodorant.

 

[alanh]

A buddy of mine from my undergrad days, designs coffee machine for BUN and I have tried liquid concentrate coffee at his house and my unrefined palette could not tell the difference between it and ground coffee.

With that said, he has said that it needs to be a quality liquid coffee of which there is a lot of variation from very cheap to high quality.

Burger King for the longest time used liquid coffee from Douwe Egberts and it was pretty bad.

I have no idea if it is even feasible for AMTRAK to purchase and install liquid coffee dispensers.

I know they've used them in the past. I'm certain I've seen them in the Superliner diners. The advantage is there's no grounds to deal with and coffee sitting that has to be dumped. It also has a hot water spigot. The disadvantage, at least in my opinion, is the ones I've had taste lousy.

 

[JamesWhitcombRiley]

Better coffee machines are showing up in big gas stations. Sheetz has the same ones I've seen elsewhere, with fresh beans on the top and a grinder built-in, single pours. At Sheetz all the machines are like this, while other places still have one additional machine, the old type with flavored coffee from powders.

 

[blueman271]

I don’t understand all the hand wringing about coffee. Free and hot seems like a pretty good deal.

 

[PVD]

The coffee discussion started because on a particular riders' trips it was neither hot nor free, it was missing completely. And free and hot is not a good deal if the product is substandard by a wide margin. Peoples' likes and dislikes as to what is a desirable blend may vary, but there are clear differences between cheap blends and better ones whether in ground, instant or concentrate. A clean coffeemaker (whatever type) and decent water are prerequisites regardless. And a large number of people prefer real dairy products to chem-lab creamers.