fulllife

We just came back from our vacation yesterday, my husband and I. We had a great time together, travelling in the south of France and the Spanish Pyrenees, topping it off with three nights in a luxurious hotel in Andorra, the dwarf state between France and Spain.

During our travelling we stayed in a few fancy hotels, we found an interesting offer on the Internet and booked a tour with those 4 stars hotels. Not bad, uh? Just bed & breakfast, lunch and dinner we could go anywhere we liked. Now there is this little thing that bothers me, actually puzzles me as well. And that little thing is: coffee.

Four stars hotels, great breakfast buffets with lots to chose from - fantastic! Very healthy food, nice food, top of the bill. Then why, oh why is their coffee so lousy? And I do mean lousy! With all this quality in their hotel rooms, at their buffets you would think that they do know how to make a good cup of coffee…

Now I must confess I am a lover of good coffee. If you drink it, it might as well be good, right? So I don’t want old coffee, coffee with the colour of coffee but tasting like next to nothing (or dish wash water) of coffee from the cheapest brand available. I just want GOOD coffee, like the ones you get in a coffee shop, or at Starbucks and the sorts, for the price you pay I think you are entitled to a good cup or two of the wake-up drink. After all, they do make a nice buffet, they do have a good ‘cuisine’ when you eat at their restaurant, so why can’t they make a bloody cup of coffee? Is that so hard? There is this English saying: “if this is coffee, give me tea”… heard that one before?

Do they have classes in making coffee? If so, I suggest to send all hotel managers there, so they can teach their staff afterwards…

Now I know, American (and English) readers, that your coffee is a lot different from ours - European. That’s why Starbucks etc is such a hit in your country. Because they make a decent cup of coffee - at an outrageous price, I might add, but that’s up to you the consumers. They even conquer our countries as well, although we don’t have as many in any particular city as you do. Aaah… but you have a lot to catch up .

Just to set your minds at peace: I did not let the ugly morning coffee spoil my vacation. No way, of course not. After breakfast our first stop was a good bar or cafe with those lovely big espresso machines that also do a magnificent cappuccino, or so I’m told - me myself I don’t come near the stuff… So now I am thinking… should I charge those hotels 4 cups of espresso per day? Would that be a possibility? Hm-mm that would teach them, wouldn’t it? What do you think???