Who knew? Airline coffee is disgusting even before they add the coffee. http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/ ... -on-board/

Yikes,

I made coffee with in-flight hot water on a recent flight. Not sure how I can get around this, I can't carry on a thermos full of hot water.

As an aircraft maintenance engineer, I agree with the article. We do sterilize our potable water tanks on a regular basis, and the system onboard does have very good water filters, but I won't touch non-bottled water onboard. (unless I'm desperate). The good news is that since airlines are looking for ways to reduce fuel burn costs, carrying full tanks of water around is happening less and less. This means the water carried is usually 'fresher' since it was likely just pumped in for your flight. Of all the water tests I've seen carried out, not one of ours has come back with E.coli and such, but the potential exists. Water for coffee and tea come from dispensers in the galley attached to the coffee maker itself. Don't ever get water from the lavator. That faucet in the washroom is about three feet away from the toilet.

If you want to make coffee onboard like Yakster, just bring a thermos (empty) into the airport. Usually one of the coffee joints, bars or cafes in your terminal have a hot water dispenser attached to their Bunn coffee systems. Fill up your thermos once thru security, get onboard and brew away! Your seat mates will love the smell of fresh coffee!

2StrokeBloke wrote:If you want to make coffee onboard like Yakster, just bring a thermos (empty) into the airport. Usually one of the coffee joints, bars or cafes in your terminal have a hot water dispenser. Fill up your thermos once thru security, get onboard and brew away! Your seat mates will love the smell of fresh coffee!

Thank you, that's a great idea.

Coffee stories related to the airline industry bring to mind this radio show I remember hearing about a long time ago. My dad had to travel a lot for work and learned a lot of the simpler travel tricks with time, and listening to a particular morning radio show that had a travel section, with advice and such.

They talked one day of why you should never make coffee with any coffee machine in a hotel room, (not that many people do) especially in any cheap hotel room near an airport. The host was talking about it being somewhat common knowledge in the airline industry that travel savvy flight attendants who travel light and bring just the bare necessities have learned to use the coffee makers in the room as a cheap "washing machine" for their panty hose and thin undergarments. They'd ball up their hose and undies and put them in the brew basket, brew a batch with just water, maybe a drop of the free shampoo, then hang them up on the curtain rod in the bathroom to air dry overnight; they'd have "clean" undergarments ready to go in the morning.

Hotels clean the rooms, but how often do you think they thoroughly clean the coffee makers.

Which brings us directly to this recent post:
Another use for your old drip coffee maker

I'd love to know the thought process that led to this usage!

Tom,

Your story seems a lot more plausible than the one I heard (but didn't believe) of people cooking crack in coffee pots.

2StrokeBloke wrote:Which brings us directly to this recent post:
Another use for your old drip coffee maker

I'd love to know the thought process that led to this usage!

Wow, who'd a thunk off that! Those coffee makers can run on an inverter from your car, so if you ever become homeless and are living in your car(God forbid)you can use the old coffe maker to cook a 4 course meal, right there in your car!!