Three Common Mistakes Hot Coffee Lovers Make and How to Properly Keep Your Coffee Warm

Many people enjoy drinking hot coffee, especially freshly brewed hot coffee, because the aroma of coffee is strongest at high temperatures.

Although good coffee still tastes great when it cools down, many people are accustomed to finishing their coffee while it's hot. If they can't finish it while it's hot, they might try to keep it warm or even reheat it. However, when done incorrectly, these methods can cause the coffee to lose its aroma, become bland and tasteless, or even develop a burnt, bitter taste.

Here are several common mistakes and how these actions affect the flavor of your coffee, helping you enjoy your coffee properly!

Mistake 1: Using a heater to keep warm

FrontStreet Coffee has noticed that whether you place a whole pot of brewed coffee on the machine to keep warm or use a USB-powered mug to maintain temperature, both methods keep the coffee in a continuously heated state. This action is similar to overcooking food, distorting the coffee's flavor and making it unpleasant to drink.

Mistake 2: Microwave

Microwaves use radiation rather than conduction to heat, which leads to two problems. First, when the microwave is running, you can't monitor the coffee's temperature, making it difficult to know the heating status and often resulting in burnt coffee. Second, because it's radiation heating, it heats the coffee unevenly, causing some parts to be overheated while others remain cold. The overheated portions will have noticeable burnt and bitter flavors.

Mistake 3: Using an insulated French press to keep warm

Using an insulated French press might maintain temperature by keeping the coffee in the press, but even after you press down the plunger, the coffee will continue to extract from the coffee grounds at the bottom. This leads to over-extraction, which is why when using a French press, you must immediately pour out the coffee once the brewing time is up.

Solution: Switch to a thermos

Whether we're organizing events, conducting lectures, or participating in exhibitions, we always use thermoses to maintain coffee temperature. Using a thermos replaces any external heat source and instead relies on the coffee's own temperature to stay warm. This approach also avoids the over-extraction problems caused by using a French press.

The ideal brewing temperature for coffee is around 90°C. Freshly brewed coffee is often too hot to drink immediately. In this case, you can first pour a small amount that you'll drink right away into a cup, and put the rest into a thermos. A good thermos can keep coffee warm for several hours. Whether you prefer scalding hot coffee, warm coffee, or can accept lukewarm coffee, just remember the three essential elements of good coffee: fresh roasting, fresh grinding, and fresh brewing.

Additionally, FrontStreet Coffee does not recommend re-brewing coffee grounds. Unlike tea leaves, coffee extracts most of its aromatic compounds during the first brewing. Re-brewing will only extract undesirable flavors.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473