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Author:
Melissa Collins
Your cup of Joe has a short lifecycle. At one moment you are enjoying the delicious taste and aroma of hot coffee, but then in a few minutes, your drink is almost ice cold.
You decide to reheat it in the microwave, only to end up with a disgusting taste on your tongue. The drink is even more bitter than it was at the onset.
When you reheat coffee, the compounds react further, making the drink way too bitter. Read on to understand why coffee gets a bitter taste when it is reheated.
The compounds and acids in coffee beans instantly react to heat when roasted. The chlorogenic acid contained in the beans breaks into quinic acid when subjected to heat. The acid gives coffee its slightly acrid and bitter taste.
Freshly brewed coffee has more delicious flavors than bitter ones. But when you heat it more than once, more quinic acid is released, making the coffee bitter. You may have probably noted that the delightful aroma disappears after reheating.
Simply put, every compound and element in coffee reacts negatively to additional heat. What else would happen if you continue extracting flavors that have already been released? It is like putting your cake back in the oven after it is ready. The texture will dry up and the aroma and delicious taste will disappear.
No!
Any appliance that subjects coffee to additional heat to preserve its temperature makes it bitter.
The charming taste of coffee lasts no more than 90 minutes after it has been freshly brewed.
Yes.
Reheating any type of roast makes it bitter. Dark roasts will have more pronounced bitterness. The coffee has already been subjected to intense heat during roasting, meaning that it has more quinic acid. More quinic acid means more bitterness.
You might laugh at yourself for not thinking about this simple method of maintaining the temperature of your coffee.
If you are preparing coffee to drink as you go, you probably own a handy thermal flask or insulated cup to help you out. You won’t think about drinking out of one if you are taking your coffee at home.
Drinking coffee out of a mug allows it to cool down rapidly because more of the liquid is exposed to cold air.
If you are working from home, consider using your thermal flask to maintain the temperature of coffee.
The flavor and aroma of coffee decreases as the drink cools down. A wise idea is to preheat the container that you will be using as you work.
To heat up your insulated cup, slosh a small amount of hot water then dump it out before pouring your hot coffee into the cup. The high temperature will even be maintained a little bit better.
Instead of brewing a large amount that you won’t be able to drink all at once, try brewing small amounts that you can enjoy while they are still hot. It is not like you spend a whole hour brewing any amount anyway!