It wasn't always bad. In our case there were several factors. The coffee in the officers and chiefs/senior mess as good because they knew exactly who made it. The crews coffee was made by some random poor slob stuck in the mess decks for months underway that never cleaned anything. The 'Radio Shack' had its own private coffee mess (with premium coffee) locked inside a secure space because we did 12 hour on/off shifts at sea during a 6 month deployment. The Radio Gang would all chip in a $20 to keep it supplied during the cruise.My Army daughter and I were wondering why military coffee is so bad. My cynical nature wonders who has the contract to supply the American military with coffee. Somebody’s cousin?
The histories of coffee and the military are deeply intertwined. There’s a legitimate argument that coffee helped the Union win the Civil War, although it was probably inevitable anyway.