BA tea
 

Technical question, but not for Tech Log:

why does BA tea, in whatever cabin, taste like it has come from an urn in a Salvation Army hostel?

Are the FA's sent on some specialist course?

We are supposed to be the biggest tea addicts/aficianados on the planet, so why can't they do better?

The water for the tea was passed by the manager of hot beverages at waterside, also his under manager and assistant manager and the assistant to the assistant manager and their secretaries have also passed the water.....thats why it tastes like.....it's just been passed. :)

Water boils at 100 Celsius, sea level pressure. The cabin of a jet in the cruise is at 8,000ft, the water boils at a lower temperature. Try it at home; get some cheap tea bags (you don't think the airlines use best Assam leaves do you?) and make a pot using luke-warm water. Ahh, so like the airlines you can almost smell the stale air-conditioning!

No no no Herod! In some airlines tea is not that bad! And BA's not even the worse: try Alitalia's if you are brave! Tastes like if someone had washed socks in it!

[ 25 February 2002: Message edited by: flyblue ]</p>

On a similar note - I vote BA for having the worst transatlantic coffee! - I think BA must be just about the only carrier to serve instant coffee in business class! - All US carriers serve fresh coffee in Coach!

What? <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> Instant coffee? Surely not....?

herod, while your explanation no doubt correct, there is still a big difference onboard between tea that has been made with water that has actually boiled and tea that's made from water just heated in the coffee maker.

Easy way to see if the airline has real "kettles" or not is to check the surface of the tea. If the tea is frothy, it's been made with water that has NOT boiled. <img src="frown.gif" border="0"> . .Revolting taste that, I agree!

. .------------------------------. .Tea Lover :)

I remember being shown around a BA Concorde on the ground once at LHR; many of us were amazed to see one of those dreadful "Nesspresso" machines aboard; the man from BA said that such units were "reserved for first class passengers" on other BA aircraft!

Maybe it's a British thing, though - I think that BM's coffee (and tea for that matter) is equally bad!

[ 25 February 2002: Message edited by: 1261 ]

[ 25 February 2002: Message edited by: 1261 ]</p>

I think you are right - BA fail to appreciate that the British are finally taking their coffee as seriously as the rest of the world. Some catching up is needed.

On BM I tend to drink Earl Grey - Its the only hot drink which I can stand on their flights.

This all may seem trivial and pedantic but when you are paying so much for a ticket (BA JFK-LHR in J, $7,600) I think a decent cup of tea and coffee are not unreasonable requests!

Tyke, in that case I'd enjoy having you for a pax!. .For early flights I always bring from home six Earl Grey teabags, enough to make the first 2 pots of tea on board. Plus home made tea cosy to keep pots warm. http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/embarass.gif. .Other FA's take the p!ss :) but the pax appreciate it. . .Nice to see it confirmed here.http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/thumbs.gif

Now that's what I call dedication to your job.

You make me look forward to returning to the UK and if I ever get an unexpected mug of earl grey I'll introduce myself!

What Mrs 40 doesn't say, is if she drinks the first pot herself! Personally I take along mint tea bags - don't seem so temperature sensitive but being a mean b. don't offer them around too much...

BTW I remember the arguments about whetehr you should put milk in first (MIF) or tea in first (TIF) but I guess that's academic in flight.

Japanese Green tea (JGT) used to be refreshing a while back but American Black coffee (ABC) is still sometimes needed...

After all these abbreviations we had better not mention the old TWA beverage either...

Exiled Tyke, please do! I'm always hoping to find a ppruner among the SLF!

Few Cloudy, I would if I had half a chance <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> . .But the frantic earlies between AMS-LHR, AMS-CDG, AMS-FRA etc leave one with precious little time to look after the passengers, let alone enjoy a nice cuppa oneself.. .It's H2O gulped straight from the bottle mate; that's quickest! LOL

Nice leisurely cups of tea are drunk at home, while quietly ppruning away......... <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

BMI coffee doesn't seem to bad to me, it's Kenco stuff I think and it seems to sustain me in the early morning hours. Hate to think how many cups I drink in a month, early duties would be impossible without it!.

I don't have to drink it.....

I could give it up anytime I wanted...

Couldn't I?.......

(The tea is foul though !)

[ 26 February 2002: Message edited by: Max Angle ]</p>

Depends where you uplift the water as well.

Water uplifted in the South of England produces dreadful tea (water in the South-East is particularly dreadful, London limestone Artesian well and all that) whereas water uplifted in Scotland is far superior and produces a reasonable cup of tea.

The explanations are helpful as to why tea tastes so bad. I do not drink tea on any airline.

There are a number of reasons apart from the taste. I am alergic to coffee (even the smell makes me feel nauseous) and some have been known to use coffee jugs for tea ...

Also, I like strong tea and a pot has to be made average strength. I have yet to find an airline that can brew a decent cuppa and they probably outght to give up! <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

On EZY they offer you a large plastic cup and a Tetley's tea bag. They fill it with hot water and that makes a reasonable (not good!) brew, as you can let the teabag 'stew'.

So, I no longer drink tea on flights. I simply drink more alcohol. This is for the simple reason that I find I get less drunk when at FL370. <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

All the warnings about how alcohol affects you more at altitude have always amused me. I should point out that, on the ground, I get 'tipsy' very quickly and cannot 'hold' my drink at all. I actually drink very little alcohol - unless I am paxing! <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

Perhaps you folks know some others who find this reverse effect?

[ 26 February 2002: Message edited by: PAXboy ]</p>

Good to know I am not the only one to have been perturbed by the sludgy brown liquid.

Flaps, I have seen plenty of frothy tea - good tip. I admire your dedication to duty, and wish I travelled on your flights. Sadly on those sectors, I tend to be upfront in my little BE33 !

The BA coffee in J, last time I walked past the galley at breakfast time, was Nescafe instant. I tend to agree that for a few grand they could throw in a decent cup of filter. But I get more upset about the lack of fresh (i.e. non-pasteurized) juices. Again, these are available only to those travelling in First. And while I'm at it, I'm pretty bored of the business class champagne (Piper Heidsieck N.V.) which is a tasteless mush of excess fizz...!

J couldn't have put it better myself. Agree with you on all counts!

The tea bags are huge catering type things one per pot. The pots are all identical (whoever has the contract must be making 'pots' of an entirely different kind), because of this its easy to use them for coffee on the first round, then tea second round. It's well nigh impossible to rinse them out properly - we can invent a remarkable machine to fly anywhere but it appears beyond the wit of man (and it must have been a man), to invent a sink that drains properly.

Catering are meant to rotate the pots after every flight - but the same old pots go round and round sector after sector, getting grubbier and grubbier.

Have I put you off yet ?

finally, in order to serve 300 + pax quickly you can't wait for the tea to 'mast' as my old granny used to say. You simply swirll the bag about with a spoon, haul it out and plop it into a plastic glass and using a second glass squeeze the bag's soggy content back into the pot.

There, now you know.

Abbracadabbra abbracadee, make this coffee into tea.

Sorry tonyt but the sinks and the drain lines are perfectly adequate for liquids, It's the combination of tea leaves, coffee grounds, milk and the various juices tipped down them that bungs 'em up.. .The engineers then spend many a happy hour with rods, compressed air, old throttle cables, and various chemicals trying to get them flowing again.