why do the Irish like coffee served above boiling point?

suicide_circus

Irish people seem to have a fixation that food and drink should be consumed 'piping hot' ie: hot enough to cause third degree burns. This can be particularly noticeable with regard to coffee and soup. I am Irish but I am of the school of thought that things should be served ready to consume, not so hot that you scald yourself or have to blow on it or add loads of milk etc
As far as I know coffee should never be subjected to boiling temperatures anyway?
Rant over

highfive

On Tuesday, I went for coffee with a friend. We forgot to ask for takeaway cups and instead got large ceramic mugs. By the time we got to our seats and got settled our drinks were just about luke-warm, the cold mugs had absorbed most of the heat Because Ireland is mostly cold, if you don't have the time to preheat your cup it's a good idea to nuke your coffee in the hope that it will still be hot when u go to drink it! So blame the weather

Ps same for food.

T

suicide_circus

Hang on, compared to winter in the rest of non Mediterranean Europe, winter here isnt in the least bit cold so I really dont think it's a weather thing. Even in summer here people want everything scalding hot. My OH is a bleedin foreigner so I am around non-nationals (horrible phrase) a lot and it's something they all remark on as being an Irish obsession.

The Toff

I prefer to drink filter coffee that has cooled down quite a bit. There's usually a fait bit more flavour available. If I get a piping hot filter brew, I just taste HEAT.

zagmund

I think Bewleys of old has a lot to answer for on this front. My recollection was that coffee bought in Grafton Street or Westmoreland Street was always scalding. I never understood the reason why myself. I reckon that a lot of people in Dublin (or those that went to Bewleys) grew up expecting to get scalding hot coffee because that's what they were always served.

z

theGavin

It could be down to when Irish people learned how to use the kettle. You turn the kettle on. How do you know when to pour the hot water into the cup? After the kettle has clicked, which is just after boiling.

hightide

I feel this is a very irish thing, We boil everything to within an inch of its life.

dloob

Probably come from making tea with boiling water.
Most of the regular black teas work best with boiling water.

Bohrio

coffe should be served at a comfortable temperature

the problem is not serving the coffee too hot as it should be at around 95 degrees when poured, the problem is the overfrothing of the milk, milk changes after 80 degrees, it tastes different, coffee should be served at a comfortable temperature of around 65-70 degrees, at least in my opinion. so many time i have had a coffee which i havent been able to drink for 10 minutes because of how hot it was....

Mr. Loverman

This isn't just an Irish thing. It's the same in Asia. I have to wait 15 minutes for my coffee to cool down to a temperature my mouth can handle.

my friend

Worse than that,

Why are Latte's and Cappacino's presented as identical drinks in 99% of coffee retailers ?

Slaphead07

my friend wrote: »

Worse than that,

Why are Latte's and Cappacino's presented as identical drinks in 99% of coffee retailers ?

ah now... in fairness Cappuccino usually has Ovaltine sprinkled on top.

conor.hogan.2

You can easily cool coffee down, it is a lot harder to heat it up.

Bohrio

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

You can easily cool coffee down, it is a lot harder to heat it up.

The problem is that milk changes properties when is heated above 80 degrees so the coffee will taste different, in fact, it tastes bad. Reheating coffee is also not a good idea, hence why the coffeee should be presented or served at the right temperature

Mr Magnolia

suicide_circus wrote: »

why do the Irish like coffee served above boiling point?

I think it's down to the fact that we [the Irish] love something to complain about. If the coffee wasn't served ready to remove layers of skin from the inside of most people's mouths the first reaction would be along the lines of 'jaysus, it's not very hot!' regardless of the fact that it may be the finest cup of arabica ever to grace the palate.

To get around this and to 'please' the average punter the coffee shops just serve it up as they understand the vast majority want it served. It's a pity but that's where we're at. Between this, burnt beans and broiled milk it's no wonder I seldom drink coffee when I'm out!






Oh, and ranting, gotta love ranting!

Graces7

I almost never drink coffee out. Too dear!

But I cannot drink really hot liquid and sometimes kind folk keep offering to reheat it for me...

I resist this of course!

cashback

Yes, there is a reason a cup of tea is referred to as a 'cup of scald' by many Irish people!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=scald

vibe666

if they weren't so damn expensive, i'd be buying me some of these bad boys so i never have to suffer a burnt mouth again trying to get my caffeine fix.

http://www.joulies.com/

Tired of burning your tongue on coffee only to have it get cold a few minutes later? With Coffee Joulies™ your coffee will be ready to drink faster and will stay hot longer. Each polished stainless steel shell is filled with a special phase change material that melts at 140°F. Put them inside your coffee and they absorb heat when it is too hot and release it back into your coffee to keep it at the perfect temperature.

Gran Hermano

Real world feedback on the Joulies seems mixed
http://www.marco.org/2011/08/10/coffee-joulies-review

emeraldstar

Those Joulies look interesting... but also quite big, like they'd take up quite a bit of valuable coffee space.

Samba

Never mind the fact that it burns the lips off you, it's tasteless too!

The flavours only start to come out around optimal temperatures.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18226454

I do love a good scalding cup of tea, but coffee is a different kettle of fish.

Chuck Stone

Samba wrote: »

kettle of fish.

Careful now.

vibe666

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Real world feedback on the Joulies seems mixed
http://www.marco.org/2011/08/10/coffee-joulies-review

part of me is gutted that they don't work better, but the rest of me is glad i didn't fork out a chunk of cash for them.