FlyerTalker688786

As per Business Traveller https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...-special-brew/.Never heard of this brand before.

rockflyertalk

Having previously worked in this speciality (3rd wave) industry and having met one of the founders of Union (he's a good friend of a friend, not to name drop of course) but this is nice move for an Airline and something I'd loved to have achieved myself. I always thought it would be great to have a speciality coffee stand in lounges delivering (proper) barista crafted flat whites, capps and lattes to lounge guests.

Hopefully we might see flat whites in the skies one day! This move is certainly a vast improvement on Nespresso or those awful machines in the lounges.

Here's the BA PR...

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...w/union-coffee

nh1980

Union coffee is great - working in Shoreditch I'm spoilt for choice with roasteries and artisan coffee on every corner but Union sells in Waitrose for about Ł5 for 250g ground and it's way above the supermarket competition like Taylors.

That said, it's all very well having the beans but some of that benefit goes away if it's ultimately made by an untrained person or as I suspect, gets mangled by basic coffee machines. A coffee bar with a barista like you see in Qantas and CX HKG lounges would be ideal...

sxc

@rockflyertalk won't they still be using the nespresso machines in First class? Just a third party capsule?

corporate-wage-slave

And the all important Avios earning opportunity at the end of that BA publicity push:

rockflyertalk

There is not much detail in the PR. So I wouldn't know. Others, such as @corporate-wage-slave and CIHY may know more about this development and/or trying to serve cappuccinos in an aircraft and the challenges in doing so, galley space, machine requirements, safety etc. But if Nespresso can do so and I know other airlines serve up frothy based coffees in J/F cabins. So it's achievable with its confines and restrictions.

Even if this just means filter coffee from Union it's a step forward. Albeit it requires a decent ratio, grind and temperature to get the best out of the beans. I can't see Union wanting to do capsules, unless from the days I knew them, they have sold their souls...but they are very good at quality and scalability whilst retaining the quality in hot drinks. Well done BA.

Deltus

Does the lounge aspect of this just mean putting different beans into the existing machines? Or is there going to be a coffee bar?

ringingup

When is this going to be from? I haven't found that mentioned in the article nor in the PR.

​​​​​​I re-read the article. From May.

corporate-wage-slave

The mediacentre says "next month by 31 May" and the BA web says "June".

British Airways - BRITISH AIRWAYS PARTNERS WITH BRITISH BRAND TO PROVIDE COFFEE LOVERS WITH A LATTE OF OPTIONS

They also have a video. I'm a bit suspicious of this being from Shoreditch, no-one is sporting a beard.

https://d1btjlf89lsb3b.cloudfront.ne...1524562040.mp4

Deltus

Although on the BA site, it says "launching June 2018", so who really knows?

If it takes 18 months for a "phased roll-out" of a new blanket on a CW seat, how long will it take to make a cup of coffee with a different sort of bean...?

rockflyertalk

Should be a fairly quick roll out, BA have bean serving coffee for some time...

Bean jokes are allowed, right?

squawk

I’m rather partial to good quality coffee, so view this as good news. As others have pointed out, you need someone with at least some training to get top notch coffee, but hopefully even without this, it will still be a noticeable improvement.

Ldnn1

Hi rocketflyertalk, you say this as if it's something quite innovative, whereas there are already plenty of lounges with proper baristas (QF for example, and the Singapore dnata lounge is a third party one that is particularly good) and plenty of airlines where espresso has been available onboard for years.

While this is a welcome improvement, I still find it very disappointing that espresso still won’t be available in J class. This remains quite far behind the times.

notakeenflyer

This seems like good news to me. That said, on my last First (which to be honest, was also my first First) I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the coffee. I'm not a complete coffee snob, but do like a nice brew and BA First certainly did the job (now I think about it, I had worked my way through some LPGS and a cocktail in the CCR, some kind of mini gin festival in GF, wines with my meal and assorted further drinks on board, so was probably a little pissed and grateful for the caffeine kick by then!)

ibmman69

What do them use to make coffee in First now? I'm not a coffee snob, just drink it black, and use a Nespresso at home. I think the coffee they serve now is fine, but I'm also a fan of improvements.