# acidic coffee question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acidic-coffee-question/109870>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 19, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acidic-coffee-question/109870 "2002-05-19T23:32:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acidic-coffee-question/109870/1 "2002-05-19T23:32:50Z")

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so coffe is acidic, right? why doesn’t my milk curdle when i pour it into my cup o’ joe?

is coffee not acidic? or not low enough on the pH scale? is there like a pH limit to curdle?

thanks a lot,

jb

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**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acidic-coffee-question/109870/2 "2002-05-19T23:44:15Z")

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I actually think coffee is very mildly alkaline. Tea is very slightly acidic, but again not so much to curdle milk

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**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acidic-coffee-question/109870/3 "2002-05-20T01:04:10Z")

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From this [site](http://www.gardfoods.com/coffee/index.htm) :

> [@](#):
>
> Surprisingly, caffeine is alkaline where as the the actual coffee is acidic.

The site says the average coffee has a PH of 5, which (I’m guessing) isn’t enough to curdle milk.

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**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acidic-coffee-question/109870/4 "2002-05-20T01:19:18Z")

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no shit…

thank you both,

jb

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**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acidic-coffee-question/109870/5 "2002-05-20T21:23:45Z")

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I tink that is part of the reason for some of the popular mixes

lemon + tea (both acidic)

chocoate + coffee (both v. slightly alkaline)

whereas lemon + coffee would react with each other