In October 2025, American made an exciting announcement when it comes to coffee. There’s now another update, as the rollout of this has been completed, so passengers can look forward to much better coffee.
In this post:
American partnering with Lavazza on coffee
American is partnering with Lavazza, whereby we’re seeing Lavazza coffee served both onboard flights and in lounges. For the first time, American is offering a consistent coffee experience both on the ground and in the air.
This partnership has now been fully rolled out, and I’m told that American is now serving Lavazza’s premium coffee blends across all cabins on flights, and in Admirals Clubs and Flagship Lounges. For those not familiar, here’s how Lavazza is described:
Lavazza, a family-owned Italian brand since 1895, is dedicated to crafting exceptional coffee experiences that reflect a legacy of expertise, passion and innovation. For the last 130 years, Lavazza has been at the forefront of coffee craftsmanship, blending time-honored Italian traditions with modern techniques to create premium coffees that are rich, balanced and universally admired. Today, its premium blends are served in top restaurants and hotels around the world, making it a natural fit for American’s elevated hospitality offering. By partnering with Lavazza, American is bringing a globally respected name in coffee to its customers — one that aligns with the airline’s focus on refined offerings and exceptional service throughout the journey.
Here’s how Heather Garboden, American Chief Customer Officer, describes this development:
“At American, we’re focused on looking at every aspect of the customer experience, and a quality cup of coffee is an important part of that journey. We’re proud to team up with this iconic brand to bring a rich, satisfying coffee experience to our customers — whether they’re in the air or relaxing in our lounges.”
For those keeping track of the competitive landscape, Delta serves Starbucks coffee, while United serves Illy coffee.
My take on American’s coffee upgrades
A good cup of coffee is something I’m passionate about, and I’m a big fan of Lavazza (at least as far as the major brands go). So if American was going to partner with a brand of coffee, I’d consider this to basically be the best case scenario. I’m similarly impressed by American partnering with Bollinger on champagne, as for my taste, it beats out United’s Laurent-Perrier and Delta’s Taittinger.
Ultimately the challenge is that the coffee served onboard is still airplane coffee, and there’s no denying that the taste of the coffee is impacted by the water used, the tanks, the impact of altitude on taste buds, etc. In a study, American also ranked last when it came to water quality in the tank, but maybe that’s better to just not think about?
I do have to specifically call out how in the press release about this announcement, American used a picture of a beautiful barista made cappuccino… except American doesn’t actually serve barista coffee in lounges.
My goodness, little in the world would delight me more than American serving barista coffee in at least some of its lounges, but I don’t see that happening. I suppose American does have espresso and cappuccino onboard some aircraft, but they’re unlikely to look like that!
Speaking of coffee on American, could we please, please, please finally see American add cold brew onboard, like United has? Pretty please? I heard that’s the key to getting Delta and United margins… I’m just saying. 😉
Bottom line
American Airlines is now exclusively partnering with Lavazza on coffee. Thanks to a full rollout, you can now expect Lavazza coffee to be served onboard all flights, and also in Admirals Clubs and Flagship Lounges. Ultimately it’s hard to get too excited about drip coffee on an airplane. Regardless, I’m a fan of Lavazza, and am delighted by the investments American is making in passenger experience.
What do you make of American partnering with Lavazza?
My favorite brand is Segafredo Zanetti. I've been using it exclusively in my home espresso machine for last 20 years. However, it's been difficult to get here in the US for the past several years. Same situation in supermarkets in Europe. Damn corporate offices in the US and Italy cannot even give a straight answer.
Good for American. We should soon see a dramatic improvement in operational on-time performance due to proper cockpit caffeine availability. Maybe even have to retire that 'Starbucks Line' internal delay code when tracking operational performance !
Pilots should now be quite happy.... lol
American deserves little credit for aligning with this mediocre brand. They don't, however, get the kudos they deserve for their partnership with Bollinger. Most Western airlines go with very run of the mill selections (QF/LH = Duval-Leroy; BA = Heidsieck & Co Monopole; AF = Charles Heidsieck)
I mean come on a huge organization such as American can’t al large coffee brands are mediocre.
Agree with others, Lavazza is a name brand, but not especially good. Certainly better than what they offer now.
In any case, this is lipstick on a pig at AA.
Lavazza isn't a premium brand. It's run of the mill, decent, but not great coffee. Neither is Illy for that matter. They are both just better known brands.
Can always make strong coffee weak, but can't make weak coffee strong. Lavazza is terrific on Celebrity Cruises.
Hope they offer a decaf offering too.
Well, at least now we know what’s keeping the cabin crew so well-caffeinated during those conveniently timed and often endless stretches of “turbulence.”
Just another reason to avoid the disappointment of an AA flight …. one finds that Lavatory coffee is not for the discerning coffee drinker. Roll on the United takeover ….
It's spelled Lavazza... oh, I see, you did a funny.
Shut up you don't have taste
Well now DeltaSex, that is not a very kind thing to say about Ben’s husband don’t you know!
Phew! At least there'll be no excuse now for that one pilot who delayed his flight to get Starbucks...
Maybe I need to give the espresso machine another shot (as I write this comment in the ORD Admirals club haha)- I’ve been only drinking the drip coffee in the lounges for a couple years because the machines were just so disappointing.
Not a great fan of Lavazza - there are better coffees out there.
Will it be too bitter for American tastes?
Lavazza is quite drinkable as an espresso or possibly in a cappuccino or macchiato but it will be horribly bitter in coffee pots.
The smokers will be the only drinkers who cannot discern how vile it is …. :-)
Lavazza is amazing.
My feeling as well. I am a Seattle's Best guy at home and I tried Lavazza and yes, bitter and burned tasting.
But Seattles Best isn’t that great either. They used to serve that on Alaska. But they are wouldn’t be able to handle the scale needed to serve American.
It’s an airline! What are you expecting. Better than the coffee they serve now. What major mass produced coffee that could accomplish the scale need for the such a large airline?