Some like it HOT
LOREN BENOIT/Press Noah Murray makes a latte for a customer at Calypsos Coffee Roasters Tuesday afternoon. A study was released last week that found coffee was typically served at higher temperatures than drinkers prefer.
This tamp and brush is used to press down esspresso and clean off ever present coffee grounds. Photo by JOSEPH CLICK/ PRESS
Coffee as seen here serves well in a tiny esspresso cup and dish. Photo by JOSEPH CLICK/ PRESS
In order to create Lattes and other hot beverages milk is steamed in metal pitchers. the average temperature of a latte is between 140 and 160 degrees. Photo by JOSEPH CLICK/ PRESS
Esspresso is created by compacting finley ground coffee into a portafilder with roughly 30 pounds of pressure. This process is called "tamping", afterward, hot pressureised water is forced through the coffee puck to brew the product. Photo by JOSEPH CLICK/ PRESS
Some prefer — tepid.
Researchers at the University of St. Thomas and the University of Texas released a study last week that found coffee was typically served at higher temperatures than drinkers prefer.
The study, which will be published in the journal Food Science, drew on results from six academic studies published in scientific journals between 1999 and 2018. The studies found most people preferred a coffee temperature of 135 degrees to 162 degrees Fahrenheit — substantially cooler than the 176 degrees to 194 degrees coffee is typically served at.
We thought we’d better investigate.
To test the temperature of local joe, we used a battery-powered handheld infrared thermometer with a range of -4 degrees to 572 degrees. The temperature of each cup of coffee was measured from a height of 5 inches and tested immediately after it was served.
The results: Based on data gathered at eight local coffee shops, Coeur d’Alene serves drip coffee at an average of 151.8 degrees.
That’s right in the sweet spot.
Timarie Harrison, 20, has been working at Vault Coffee, 324 Sherman Ave., since she was 16. Harrison said Vault tries to serve its hot drinks at 160 degrees, at the upper end of customers’ preferences.
“I feel like it is just a really good standard temperature to get it hot enough to the point where it’s hot coffee but not going to burn the milk,” Harrison said.
It could burn whoever drinks it, however: Liquids can burn skin at temperatures as low as 100 degrees (or even cooler), according to the American Burn Association. Only three seconds of exposure to liquids at 140 degrees can cause a burn serious enough to require medical attention. Between 80 and 90 percent of scald burns are related to cooking, drinking and serving hot liquids.
Espresso drinks, which are mostly warmed milk with a shot of espresso — typically brewed in the 200-degree range — are served at a lot cooler. Idaho, for those of you keeping score at home, has the cheapest lattes in the nation, at an average price of $3.49, or about 16 percent less than the national average of $4.16. The highest price was in — you guessed it — North Dakota, where the average price is $4.45.
Vault serves children’s drinks — hot chocolate, say, or flavored steamed milk — at a high of 130 degrees. Local shops’ kid drinks came in at an average tempterature of 118 degrees. Harrison said it was important to keep children’s drinks at a lower temperature because they’re more likely to spill. When they spill, they tend to get burned: On average, 435 children ages 0 to 19 are treated in emergency rooms for burn related injuries every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Baristas from Calypsos Coffee Roasters, Lean Bean and Vault Coffee test the temperature with their hands, touching the containers while brewing espresso to measure the temperature of whatever drink they are making.
Harrison said she will use a thermometer if a customer requests a specific temperature. The Lobby Cafe at The Coeur d’Alene Resort and The Shops are both controlled automatically to prevent drinks from being served too hot.
The Lobby Cafe at The Coeur d’Alene Resort had the coolest drip coffee temperature, at 139 degrees.
McDonald’s, 1325 W. Riverstone Drive, served the hottest coffee: 166.4 degrees.
And your Keurig at home? You can expect your java to be about 158 degrees.
Breakout Box for cover
Local Coffee Temperatures
Calypsos Coffee Roasters, 116 E. Lakeside Ave., 145.7 degrees
The Cafe Espresso & Juice Bar in The Resort Plaza Shops, 210 E. Sherman Ave., 144.1 degrees
McDonald’s, 1325 W. Riverstone Drive, 166.4 degrees
Lean Bean, 1207 Sherman Ave., 145.0 degrees
Vault Coffee, 324 Sherman Ave., 148.9 degrees
Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters, 504 E. Sherman Ave, 162.1 degrees
Starbucks, 2356 Old Mill Road, 163.0 degrees
The Lobby Cafe at The Coeur d’Alene Resort, 139.0 degrees
Breakout box for jump:
Coffee Facts
- Americans consume about 400 million cups of coffee each day. The beverage accounts for .6 percent of U.S. gross domestic product — about $75 billion a year — and is responsible for 1.7 million U.S. jobs.
- The only states that produce coffee are Hawaii and California. The leading exporters are Brazil (at 2.6 million metric tons per year) Vietnam 1.7 million metric tons), Colomba (810,000), Indonesia (660,000) and Ethiopia (384,000). Per capita, Finland is the world’s largest consumer, at about 26.5 pounds per year.
- An eight-ounce cup of Folgers House Blend has between 60 and 80 milligrams of caffeine, roughly in line with a Green Mountain Coffee Breakfast Blend for Keurig, which came in at 76 milligrams, which is the same as a can of Diet Coke. Maxwell House decaffeinated has between 2 and 10 milligrams. A vente Blonde Roast at Starbucks has an eye-popping 476 milligrams, or twice as much caffeine as a shot of 5-Hour Energy.
- The largest cup of coffee was poured last month in Colombia. The massive cup contained 6,007.04 U.S. gallons and weighed more than 20 tons, according to the Guiness Book of World Records.
SOURCE: THE PRESS