I love great coffee. I enjoy it at home, and I especially enjoy it when traveling. Of course coffee has the benefit of having caffeine, but for me it’s so much more than that — enjoying coffee is a ritual for me, and I very much appreciate the thought and effort that goes into making a good coffee. A hotel or airline offering solid coffee is always memorable for me, so I’d like to talk about that a bit as it relates to airport lounges.
In this post:
Airport lounges with the most memorable coffee
Coffee is an airport lounge amenity I really value, so that got me thinking about what lounges have great coffee. There are thousands of airport lounges out there, so I’m not going to claim that I can authoritatively rank the coffee in every single lounge. However, I’d like to share some lounges that stand out in my memory for the quality of coffee that they offer.
One facility that stands out is the Fiji Airways Lounge Nadi (NAN), which is not only open to Fiji Airways premium passengers and oneworld elites, but also to Priority Pass members. This lounge has what might just be the best barista coffee I’ve had in a lounge. During my last visit, I ordered a cappuccino. Not only was it beautifully presented, but the taste was perfect — it was smooth, not at all bitter, and just the right temperature.
Australia is of course known for its coffee culture, so I find that Qantas First Lounges have phenomenal coffee, whether in Los Angeles (LAX), Singapore (SIN), or Sydney (SYD).
Air New Zealand Lounges also have barista-made coffee. What’s cool is that you can order (and customize) your coffee on a tablet, and you can even choose whether you want it in a to-go cup or not.
The Emirates Business Lounge Dubai (DXB) Concourse B has a Costa Coffee shop within the lounge, where passengers can order a complimentary barista coffee. This is such a cool concept, though frustratingly, it’s only open certain hours of the day.
As you’d expect, lounges in Italy also tend to do pretty well with coffee, given how much pride the country takes in good coffee. So not surprisingly, the ITA Airways Lounge Rome (FCO) has great barista coffee.
But the great coffee extends beyond that, with the Plaza Premium Lounge Rome (FCO) also having exceptional coffee.
While we’re hopping around the globe here, Cathay Pacific also deserves credit for serving excellent barista coffee in a majority of its lounges, including in the Cathay Pacific The Pier First Lounge and Cathay Pacific The Pier Business Lounge Hong Kong (HKG). The carrier does better than its Asian peers on that front.
Lounges in the United States are upping their coffee game
As you can see, above I’ve focused on non-US airlines, though I think it’s also important to recognize that lounges in the United States have made a ton of progress when it comes to their coffee quality and variety in recent years.
This is an area where Alaska Airlines shines, as all Alaska Lounges have excellent barista coffee, which can be served in a mug or in a to-go cup, to take on your flight. I very much appreciate the carrier’s commitment to great coffee.
Among the “big three” US carriers, United wins when it comes to barista coffee on the ground. United Polaris Lounges offer great coffee, including a barista setup. We’re also seeing an increasing number of United Clubs offering barista coffee bars, with a huge variety of drinks.
Meanwhile it’s interesting to me that American and Delta haven’t in any way embraced barista coffee on the ground (though Delta’s machine coffee is a bit better than American’s, at least as of now).
Fortunately credit card lounges in the United States tend to excel when it comes to coffee quality. For example, Capital One Lounges, including in Dallas (DFW) and Washington Dulles (IAD), have barista coffee, cold brew and iced lattes on tap, etc.
Amex Centurion Lounges and Chase Sapphire Lounges are a bit less consistent when it comes to this kind of stuff. For example, the Amex Centurion Lounge Seattle (SEA) has a barista coffee station, and that’s also something you’ll find in other new locations, like the one in Salt Lake City (SLC).
In the case of Chase, some lounges in the network, like the Chase Sapphire Lounges New York LaGuardia (LGA), do have barista coffee from the bartenders. Meanwhile other lounges simply have cold brew and other iced coffee drinks on tap.
Bottom line
I’m always delighted when I go to an airport lounge and discover great coffee. Not only am I coffee enthusiast, but I’m also typically more likely to have a cup of coffee when visiting a lounge, rather than a lot of food or alcohol.
It’s probably not surprising, but you’ll typically find the best lounge coffee in countries that are known for their quality coffee, like Australia, Italy, etc. However, even in the United States we’ve seen a lot of investments in lounge coffee in recent years, and it’s a trend I’m very happy about.
What’s your favorite coffee you’ve had in an airport lounge?
Singapore’s Private room serves Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. I had a latte the last time and it was superb.
I wouldn’t rate Costa Coffee at all. It’s usually very weak and bland.
TPE has a world championship coffee stand outside the lounge area.
Starbucks is my fave. I always wear green apron when i go to airport. I walk behind counter and make a free coffee. I tell workers i am going on break. Works every time.
New Guinea coffee made by the headhunters ? SE Asia coffee made by civit cat excreted beans? San Francisco coffee made by pot-head bums ?
Toss-up .
FWIW, the "barista" at the C1 Lounge DFW is a human pushing the button on a coffee machine, unless something has changed recently. It's not a real espresso machine in the true sense.
Oneworld lounge at AMS also has a quite decent barista.
Dunkin at Logan. No, not that Dunkin. The Dunkin over there, past those other two Dunkins.
Alaska lounge in SFO is the barista operating a button-pushing espresso machine. They only do easy mods by hand such as different creamers.
The best has to be JAL first where you can get a single origin pour over. The Pier First also has decent espresso
Yeah but too hard to concentrate on the pour overs at JAL first given the quality of the scotch they will pour you!
100% correct on this and the scotch.
Hot cups should be more widespread.
While I prefer drinks in ceramicware, there are plenty of passengers who just don't have the time to consume it in the lounge, so instead of buying coffee in an airport Starbucks, they can simply grab a coffee along with other grab and go nibbles and take it with them.
And the coffee is much better too compared to what you'll find in a Starbucks!
Having been very recently I would suggest adding in the Malaysia Airlines Satellite Golden Lounge into this. They have a series of machines but you can ask to have a barista made coffee and mine was really good.
Not sure how much of this was me being on 7 hours of sleep over the prior 48 hours or the fact that it had been a week without my fix of exceptional coffee but the soy milk flat white I had hit the spot!
What Chase does well is partner with local purveyors. So you'll get Joe Coffee at LGA but Elixr in PHL or Press in PHX. It's nice to try different roasters!
What Chase does not do well is CSR 2.0.
Bah! Got'em!
(Consider using that $150 semi-annual Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables credit at Phoenix Palace. Yum!)((I see Don Angie is now on there, too, but it's impossible to ever get a reservation, so...)
Nice I’ll add it to the list. The Joseph Leonard family of restaurants are solid - easy enough to use there.
I’ve been wondering if there is a hack to buy gift cards at Parcelle for their wine bar in Greenwich Village and then use those gift cards for their wine shop. (Chase uses Parcelle for its lounge wine program.) Have not tried it though and they do delineate the gift cards separately online - feels like an in person schmooze to get it to work.
I got tbh, taste individual yada yada, I like the consistency and taste of the coffee roast in American’s machines. Smooth, strong, not the nasty burned Starbucks taste. Honestly enjoy their coffee. Not every barista does better coffee than a good machine.
Darn. Had an evening departure at NAN, and didn't think to try their coffee... Next time!
(Not coffee, but I am a sucker for the iced tea at DL SkyClubs...)