I haven’t known for long that when making coffee (instant or ground) the water shouldn’t be boiling or ‘just-boiled’. My dad waits at least a minute before pouring the kettle.
The opposite is true for tea. It should be poured ASAP for good tea. How long is ideal to wait before intruducing the water to the coffee? Does it really make a worthwhile difference?
Up until a few months ago my wife & I used a nice drip machine with good coffee. The results were uniformly “satisfactory.” Then one of my really good pals got me a French press for my birthday–night and day difference. The press delivers “marvelous” coffee. It will not, however, perform miracles–if you start with the sticks & seeds coffees like Folgers & Yuban, you’ll still get sluge.
The drip machines work by boiling the water and letting it shoot up and onto the grounds. I reckon it cools a little bit in the process…like maybe to just below boiling. I have found that with the press, letting the water cool for a minute or so makes a noticeable difference. It’s worth the wait. I’ll check the temp for you tomorrow morning, but I believe I’m using water in the neighborhood of 195 degrees (farenheit)–I’m in Denver, water doesn’t get a lot hotter than that around here.
Interestingly, I conceived of letting the water cool for a bit because of something an ancient lady told me while I was visiting her in London. She was fixing tea and went on for at least 10 minutes about the horrors of using boiling water for tea…that was like 25 years ago, she made that much of a point about it.
Since you’ve been patient enough to wade through the drivel, here’s a link.
Water for fresh coffee should be just below boiling. Generally, in the time it takes you to take it from the burner to the press, it will cool to proper temperature.
What about those Bialetti Moka Express pots, then? Isn’t the water actually boiling when it goes through the grounds?