So, this morning, I’m making coffee at work and I go over to the water cooler and draw off a pot of HOT water. Hot being the operative word here. I figure that the water being hot will ony speed up the process.
Yeah, Yeah…Let’s not go into the great debate of cold water boiling faster than hot, that’s a load of crap.
My boss comes in and says “Don’t EVER (just like that, EVER):mad: use hot water for coffee.” I say why not and he says something like " It doesn’t taste as good" or" It messes it up" Never mind the fact that the coffee in question is coffee service drek that only chumps like me will drink. Coffee lovers would never pay money for it.
I asked him how he came upon this knowledge and he said " Before I worked in this business, I worked for years in the food service industry!"
That that didn’t even come close to answering my question, but it did make me wonder how much there was to this.
Somewhere along the line some old cowboy convinced him that if you started with hot water, coffee machine coffee will get all screwed up and taste like the swill that it really is. My logic in refutation was that H2O is H2O and hot H2O just moved around a lot faster. (just like that…EVER!):smack:
Whats the lowdown , how do I separate fact from piffle? Help me set this poor boy straight.
My coffee maker acts really stupid if someone uses hot water. As for the taste…hmmm. I have never used hot water so I can’t speak on that. I am going to drink a cup of coffee first thing every morning. I would just be happy to have the coffee…if it was real bad, I would just add more cream.
It has something to do with the timer on the coffee maker…Hot water screws it up since it is already hot and doesnt need as much time…whatever…Also before Mr. Coffee…when people used to perculate (SP?) coffee it was believed that hot water had been sitting in the water heater for a long time and cold water was “fresher” for some reason… I was always told to "let it run for a few seconds to get “fresh water”…go figure…Did you try it? What happened?
What follows is only my opinion. But you have to understand, I drink good coffee. That simply means that I spend my hard earned dollars for coffee that doesn’t taste like crap. But this is so subjective that I almost hate to post.
I drink coffee that cost me $12/pound. I beg/borrow/steal coupons, so I get it for $6/pound. It is nectar.
I doubt that using hot water/ vs. cold water could screw up the taste of my coffee. It might taste about 90% if I used hot water. Dissolved oxygen, etc. But most people wouldn’t know the diff.
I think your boss is an asshole.
Yes, using fresh water is better. Could most people tell the diff. in crap coffee? NO.
With bad coffee,probly only make it taste worse.
For good coffee,the first requirement (besides buying a pound of “good” coffee),by that I mean the equivalent of Bokar from A&P (if that’s still around)-or serviceable the red labelled one-no you don’t need to pay $12 a pound for good coffee-is good water,just like bread or bagelmaking.
In hard water areas like Las Vegas your water pipes,and esp.the hot end,get lined with calcified deposits that make h20 nasty stuff.The hot side even nastier.
So there’s truth to your boss’statement,tho depends on the degree of hardness in your water,and even age of your supply pipes.
Have been a coffee drinker most of my life (currently abt.8 cups or so a day)Out here drink it black-in NY used a "litle"lightener as in coffee dark,no sugar,to smooth it out.That’s the difference in taste/aroma/body water will extract from your coffee beans.
I could accept the argument about dissolved O2 If we were talking about a home where the hot water actually did stand around in the pipes and lose its freshness, but this is not the case at the water cooler or in a commercial place. And even if it were true that the O2 levels were down wouldn’t that reduce the oxidation of the beans, thereby making it a better brew?
Coffee makers don’t time the coffee making process. They start heating the water and when its done, it’s done. Thats why when your machine has lime scale in it, the coffee takes longer.
Hmmm…I guess it all depends how the heating mechanism works. If you overheat the water for coffee, that’s normally A Very Bad Thing. The only exception is in making Turkish coffee where water is boiled in the process. Overheating your coffee will usually turn it noticeably bitter and rancid. Burnt coffee sucks, trust me. A similar thing happens when making green tea. Water too hot? Tea tastes like ass.
So overheating the water is a possibilty, depending on how these coffee makers work. The other possibilty comes from the water source. In my flat, the boiler is old and the water that comes from it definitely has a mineraly taste which the cold water does not. Coffee should be made with filtered water. Put some tap water through a Brita and then make coffee. It’ll taste much better since coffee is about 90-95% water, the rest oils. Yes, it makes a huge difference. The coffeeshop where I worked had a seperate, filtered water source for the brewed coffee and espresso.
Perhaps your boss worked in a place with an old water boiler or got some information passed on to him from somebody who once had a friend who had a friend who said hot water is bad for coffee since his hot water source wasn’t as “clean” as his cold water.
Sounds like your boss is a bit of a control freak.
I’m not sure in what capacity he means “food service industry,” but as a refugee from its many permutations I can tell you it often has little to do with honing these kind of fine distinctions. More to do with honing control freakishness.
Take solace in knowing you were right.
If you are using hot water from a water heater, you could get a lot of sediment that would make the water not taste as good. Since coffee is mostly water, it could affect the taste if you are using good coffee. However, I don’t know what affect it would have on most coffee makers.
Alright, now were gettting domewhere.
The water spent all of 10 seconds out of the bottle, the heating element on the water cooler being “on demand”(yeah right). There is a little resevoir for some hot water, though. So maybe I should take it back.
Now, as I can see it you really only get burned coffee when you let it sit on the warmer too long. A kind of reduction ?
Water boils a 212 deg. at sea level. the boiling is what causes the pressure necessary to make that little bit of water percoate up the siphon and drop down on the grounds. Cold water takes longer, but it still must reach boiling.
Cites, cites, I need some official wasted tax dollars on this.
I’ve always found that making coffee with hot water gives me weaker coffee.
My WAG is that brewing coffee properly likely takes a little time.
Right now, I have an old-fashioned percolator (For the record, my hot-water coffee was weak no matter what kind of coffeepot I used in the past), and it works on the thermostat method. Once the water reaches a certain temp, the heating element turns off and it doesn’t bubble up to the grounds any more; the coffee is weak and un-drinkable. Cold water, otoh, gets sent through the grounds the proper amount before heating up enough to turn off the percolator.
Okay, this from Oregoncoffee.com/brewing.htm:
Water Ninety-eight percent of a cup of coffee is water, so it makes sense that the quality of water used will affect the taste. Use spring or filtered water, not distilled water which lacks the minerals necessary to bind to the flavor components of the coffee bean. Start with water that is fresh and cold. The aeration of freshly drawn cold water gives it a refreshing taste. The optimum temperature to brew coffee at is 185-195 degrees Fahrenheit.
This from: http://mozcom.com/~trigem1/coffee.html (which comes up as a Starbucks page)
**3. Use freshly draw cold tap water. Water is 98 percent of every cup; consider using a water filter or bottled water if your water tastes peculiar. **
This from: http://www.saharacoffee.com/perfcup.htm
Water, the single most important ingredient for a perfect cup of coffee is also the most often overlooked. The average cup of coffee contains over 98% water. Never use: hot tap water, water that contains chemicals (chlorine, fluoride, etc.), artificially softened water, sparkling water, mineral water, water that has been standing, or any water that has any undesirable taste or odor.
This from Folgers.com:
When brewing, use cold, fresh water. It makes the best cup of coffee. Hot water can cause poor flavor. Bottled water should be used if off flavors are present in your tap water.
I haven’t found anything that says WHY hot water isn’t as good, exactly, but I hope this is informative. Sorry it isn’t more supportive of you!
Tibs.
The boss is always right! 
In the Mr. Coffee type of coffee maker, the hole in the bottom of the filter basket is made just the right size to make the flow of water move at a certain speed. That keeps just a bit of water over the grounds as it is refilled continuously from the pump/heater that drips it into the basket. That speed makes the coffee water stay at about 175 degrees, and the brew time for the whole process about right for automatic drip grind coffee.
If you put hot water in the reservoir, each little bit of water, as it runs into the pump/heater will heat much sooner, and the steam from it will drive the coffee up the spout much more quickly. That makes the water in the brew basket get deeper, and a bit hotter. It makes the process shorter, and also tends to dump grounds over the edge of the filter basket as well. So the coffee ends up being weaker, and filled with grounds.
If you pay a lot for your coffee beans, you ought to consider using filtered water and aerating it a bit before you use it. It does make a difference, although tap water won’t ruin good coffee. If you don’t grind your beans fresh for each pot, and make small enough batches to serve it all in half an hour, go ahead and use tap water, it really doesn’t matter much. But do try fresh ground beans, and filtered water, just to see if it is worth it to you. If not, why bother?
(I love good coffee, and can no longer drink it.)
Tris
“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.” ~ Hypatia of Alexandria ~