Serving and Holding Coffee Freshly brewed
coffee is best enjoyed immediately — its
flavor is evanescent. The ideal drinking
temperature is around 140ºF/ 60ºC, where a
sip won’t scald the mouth, and the coffee’s
full aroma comes out. Because it cools in the
cup, coffee is usually held in the pot just
below the brewing temperature. High heat
accelerates chemical reactions and the escape
of volatile molecules, so coffee flavor
changes noticeably after less than an hour in
the pot; it becomes more acid and less
aromatic. Coffee is best kept hot by retaining
its original heat in a preheated, insulated,
closed container, not on a hot plate that
constantly supplies excessive heat from below
while heat and aroma escape above.
Coffee Flavor Coffee has one of the most
complex flavors of all our foods. At its base is
a mouth-filling balance of acidity, bitterness,
and astringency. A third or less of the