# The Lonliness Of The Iced Coffee People.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lonliness-of-the-iced-coffee-people/250266>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 14, 2004, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lonliness-of-the-iced-coffee-people/250266 "2004-06-14T11:29:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lonliness-of-the-iced-coffee-people/250266/21 "2004-06-16T04:00:54Z")

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> [@KP](#):
>
> Someone argued that vegetable oil and water don’t mix. Neither do butterfat and water - yet what is cream in the first place? An emulsion of butterfat in wateraided by casein and other ingredients. Similarly, mayonnaise, which can remain stable almost indefinitely if unopened, is merely an emulsion of vegetable oil and egg whites (and other water-base liquids, like vinegar, lemon juice, etc) – they main emulsifier in mayo is the lecithin in the egg yolks

Actually, I said they don’t dissolve - in response to Johnny L.A.'s suggestion that oil could dissolve in water. And yes, I’m aware of the different colloids out there, but they don’t function the same way as solutions. After all, the way to fit more sugar into water than will normally fit is to heat the water. But you don’t heat up the vinegar when you make mayonnaise in order to “dissolve” the oil - you do it cold, while stirring. I was just trying to point out that analogies with the way solutions act aren’t necessarily accurate.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lonliness-of-the-iced-coffee-people/250266/22 "2004-06-16T12:40:32Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Actually, I said they don’t dissolve - in response to Johnny L.A.'s suggestion that oil could dissolve in water.

I am aware that oil doesn’t dissolve in water. Poor choice of words on my part. Nevertheless, the solidified vegetable oils do “melt” (if that’s more acceptable) in hot water.

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**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lonliness-of-the-iced-coffee-people/250266/23 "2004-06-16T13:15:55Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by cheesesteak_  
> the little mound of powder breaks off like icebergs from a glacier and sinks into the dark liquid below (it’s actually kinda fun to watch).

Well, I for one am glad you posted that. All this time, I thought I was the only one who liked to watch the powdered creamer dissolve into my coffee. . .

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**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lonliness-of-the-iced-coffee-people/250266/24 "2004-06-16T18:51:10Z")

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I was going to recommend the “Paste Trick” - the same that **KP** describes. It also works for cocoa.

The trick is to only use a tiny, _tiny_ dribble of liquid in the powder when you start. Move from a thick sticky paste, to a thinner one, and so forth.

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