As someone who drinks a lot of coffee, I’ve long said that I wish more airlines would serve iced coffee or cold brew. Well, Southwest is the latest airline to introduce this…
In this post:
Southwest’s new Espresso + Cream iced coffee
Southwest Airlines has just added Community Coffee’s Espresso + Cream iced coffee to its inflight buy on board menu. Specifically, this iced coffee will be available for purchase at the cost of $4. Community Coffee has been Southwest’s inflight coffee supplier since 2016, though this is the first time we’ll see Southwest sell iced coffee. The company is the largest family-owned retail coffee brand in the United States.
The iced coffee will be served in 8.5 ounce bottles and with a cup of ice. Each serving contains 120mg of natural caffeine, and has 150 calories and 20 grams of sugar. This beverage will be served on 4,000 flights per day, spanning over 100 destinations in 42 states, as well as Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
I wish the execution were a bit different here
I like all kinds of coffee, from pure espresso, to a delicious cappuccino. So while I’m delighted that Southwest is starting to sell iced coffee, unfortunately the execution here leaves a lot to be desired, at least based on my preferences.
Personally I’d rather my iced coffee not be sweet and have 150 calories per 8.5 ounces. Oddly Southwest refers to this as a “great low-calorie option.” I’m not sure how a beverage with nearly 50% more calories than regular Coke would be considered low-calorie. How many more calories could an 8.5 ounce beverage possibly have?!
In June 2022, Delta added Explorer Cold Brew to its inflight drink lineup on select routes. I far prefer that, since it’s pure cold brew, and then you can always add milk or sweetener if you’d like.
So even if Southwest’s offering here isn’t in line with what I prefer to drink, I’m happy to see the general trend of more iced coffee available on planes. Not only is iced coffee a great alternative to hot coffee in general, but I especially appreciate this in the sky.
The airplane water tanks used to brew coffee inflight are pretty gross, while a canned iced coffee or cold brew concentrate lets you enjoy coffee without water from the plane’s tanks.
Bottom line
Southwest Airlines is the latest airline to add iced coffee to its inflight menu. You can now purchase Community Coffee’s Espresso + Cream iced coffee for $4 on all Southwest flights. While I’m happy to see another airline add iced coffee to the menu, this is really more of a sweet treat than a coffee, with 150 calories in the eight ounce bottle.
What do you make of Southwest’s new iced coffee?
I ordered the Community iced coffee on my last Southwest flight for $4. Yes, it has a bit of sugar. I don't drink my coffee with sugar but thought that this drink was DELICIOUS!! I have a trip coming up, and I'm looking forward to the flight just so I can order one of these! I'm so glad that Southwest has added this to their choices. We all eat some sugar sometimes, and this will be my time!
Logistically offering something that’s already sweet may help reduce additional requests for sugar or cream with coffee. I have to believe SW has data to back this decision. Most passengers may prefer the sweetened option.
I ordered one on my flight a couple weeks ago thinking it was another free coffee. The stewardess didn't explain what it was. It was so unbelievably sweet I couldn't even finish the whole thing. I don't know why manufacturers make these beverages so damn sweet. It's become the "norm". If they used half the amount of sugar then that would be on the "new norm". Luckily the stewardess didn't charge me for it. Will...
I ordered one on my flight a couple weeks ago thinking it was another free coffee. The stewardess didn't explain what it was. It was so unbelievably sweet I couldn't even finish the whole thing. I don't know why manufacturers make these beverages so damn sweet. It's become the "norm". If they used half the amount of sugar then that would be on the "new norm". Luckily the stewardess didn't charge me for it. Will not order again, unless I have some whiskey or rum to mix it with.
Eh, some folks are into the sweet stuff. That's why those insane Starbucks bottled frappucinos do so well. I'd like to see both options, or just a regular iced coffee with milk and sugar on the side.
It really isn't "iced coffee". It's a coffee flavored, oversweetened, overpriced drink.
I say you can't please everyone...we all have choices...if you don't like the menu...don't order! I prefer to keep cheap airfare prices...could care less about what's on the menu...Btw...I approved this message!!
Don't drink it if you are worried about calories. 150 calories won't make you fat! Life is short so find something meaningful to write about or complain about.
Most people think their mixed drinks at Starbucks are coffee drinks when the amount of coffee compared to cream, syrup, etc is not much. Pure coffee or coffee with milk is not bad for you. I think as fat and calorie counts are on menus in many places now people are starting to consider this more. I agree the Delta option lets you add how you would like to drink it and is free!
I am glad to see iced coffee added to our choices I will be looking forward to this.
I would also like to add that I wish you would bring back your just plane cookies. Those were so good & I miss them
I can't WAIT to read yet another person pipe up and proclaim:
(a) how much sugar there is in this coffee, and
(b)) how they won't drink it.
Such original commentators we've stirred today (no pun intended).
While I appreciate that Southwest Airlines, which is usually my airline of choice, has chosen to offer the product of a family business to offer on their flights, I would have to pass.
For specific health reasons, I have to monitor my sugar intake, the drink would be an untouchable.
I'm guessing this choice is based in part in response to general public's love of sugary drinks.
It's difficult, sometimes impossible to...
While I appreciate that Southwest Airlines, which is usually my airline of choice, has chosen to offer the product of a family business to offer on their flights, I would have to pass.
For specific health reasons, I have to monitor my sugar intake, the drink would be an untouchable.
I'm guessing this choice is based in part in response to general public's love of sugary drinks.
It's difficult, sometimes impossible to find any drink without sweetners of some sort (except water) available in convenience stores, etc.
As Southwest must be a substantial buyer from the vendor, if the vendor doesn't already have a similar, but nonsweetened product available, I suggest they introduce one.
I'm an avid coffee drinker usually iced but hot when I want it. The addition of Community Exspresso + Cream does nothing for a many travelers. This product alone has 23 grams of carbs in it alone and as a type 1 diabetic if im paying $4.00 for iced coffee I am going to make sure it's my way and not play havoc on my health. So yes it is good for most that they...
I'm an avid coffee drinker usually iced but hot when I want it. The addition of Community Exspresso + Cream does nothing for a many travelers. This product alone has 23 grams of carbs in it alone and as a type 1 diabetic if im paying $4.00 for iced coffee I am going to make sure it's my way and not play havoc on my health. So yes it is good for most that they offer this but like a lot of things they have taken no consideration for travelers as a whole that have health concerns or even allergies around sugars or milk that a simple iced black coffee that people could added what they like to, would do.
I wish they change the pretzels snacks
Way too much sugar!! Just order a cup of coffee and a cup of ice!!
Great choice for those who get drink tickets but don’t want alcohol.
Sound good! I wonder if you can use your SWA drink tickets for this item?
Wasted offering. As you noted, it's garbage.
Still using their ice. Way to much sugar. 20grams. Women should only have 25 grams in a day!
I tried this at the KCI airport previous. It was good, but I probably won't pay $4 for it on a flight.
Airplane tanks are pretty bad. Remember the days when flight attendants served water from a metal pitcher straight out of the tanks? Fortunately the water used for making coffee is very very hot!!
Tone deaf to sell a high sugar drink like that.
Silly bunnies.
Just what the airlines need...more people bouncing off the walls! The sugar effect!
And people's waistline ever expanding.
Lucky, have you been assiduously inspecting every single water container on every single plane you fly to make the sweeping judgement that they're all gross?? Seems to me that if we'd be having thousands of cases airborne-contracted E.coli or any other waterborne microbes and pathogens. And that most definitely is NOT THE CASE. I understand you like your (canned) coffee and taking care of one's health is a good thing. But ease up on the...
Lucky, have you been assiduously inspecting every single water container on every single plane you fly to make the sweeping judgement that they're all gross?? Seems to me that if we'd be having thousands of cases airborne-contracted E.coli or any other waterborne microbes and pathogens. And that most definitely is NOT THE CASE. I understand you like your (canned) coffee and taking care of one's health is a good thing. But ease up on the hyperbole would ya? I've been flying since 1976 and I (along with hundreds of millions of pax) have NO problem with freshly inflight brewed tea or coffee.
Yes and I would say some of the most premium airlines would make sure theirs is not gross especially in the front sections of the plane!
It’s junk food just like their livery looks like junk food. Well done Southwest.
Junk food coffee.
Still waiting for airlines to serve Unsweetened Iced Tea as an option. How hard can that be to offer a bottle of Tejava on the menu.
ask for a cup of hot tea and 2 cups of ice
That's not how you make Iced Tea or Cold Brew coffees, except maybe at Denny's....:)
feel free to let us know your in-flight recipe, Leigh
Sometimes it comes down to the supplier….and space
I like iced coffee at times but agree that I will hard pass on having to pay for it plus the amount of sugar.
A cup of coffee and ice - using airplane water - is a better alternative.
And you would think that the concentrate alternative would make more sense since it is lighter and takes up less storage space
I agree that this is just frustrating - almost everyone adds dairy, new age 'milk', and/or sugar/sweetener to their specific liking. They should just have unsweetened cold brew with a sugar/milk sachel or requested from the FA, as you stated.
I love it
Sound good! I wonder if you can use your SWA drink tickets for this item?
Hard pass, way too much sugar.
How is you not liking the product "a catch"? A catch would be if the iced coffee was only available on select flights or to A-list flyers, the cost was absurd, or they were only going to stock 10 per flight--something that made is so that Southwest could say they've "added iced coffee" but as a practical matter most people wouldn't be able to get it, even if they wanted it.
@ tda1986 -- The catch is that this isn't what most people would traditionally think of as an iced coffee, but rather it's a sweet and sugary drink. If you go somewhere and order an iced coffee, you don't expect that it'll have 150 calories and 20 grams of sugar. That's why I said there's a catch.
I guess… but they say exactly what product they’re serving in the title and first line of the press release. It’s not like they suggest they’re going to offer something they’re not.
@Lucky
"The catch is that this isn't what most people would traditionally think of as an iced coffee"
Maybe I'm not most people but iced coffee, like iced tea, is expected to be a mixed drink. Same as I would expect iced tea to be sweet unless I order it unsweetened.
@ Eskimo -- I hear you, though I don't think that reflects the default expectation of most US consumers. If you go to virtually any major coffee retailer and order an iced coffee, it will come unsweetened and with nothing in it by default, and then you can add milk or sweetener. For the iced coffee available at supermarkets, it seems to be mixed, with some coming with sweetener, and others just coming plain.
@ tda1986 -- And I don't think I suggested they were trying to deceive anyone? I'm not just rewriting press releases. My point was that the airline is introducing iced coffee, but it's probably not the iced coffee most consumers want.
This will pair perfectly with the typical American's obesity..
Certainly in line with all those drunk Irish blokes
20 grams of sugar. Damn. No wonder the American diet is so bad. Agreed tho that canned iced coffees are a much more hygienic alternative to hot water tanks.
Much bigger fan of the Delta cold brew served from Explorer: https://news.delta.com/update-small-diverse-brands-lead-deltas-food-and-beverage-refresh
They should do a collab with 7/11. Inflight slurpees are next. Actually really fitting for southwest.
I love cold brew/iced coffee, but I'd rather tempt fate with the aircraft water tank produced warm swill than drink this garbage.