11 Ways to Cool Coffee (#10 is My Favorite)

So, you want to get the day started or have the afternoon slump ended. But that cup of coffee in your hand is simply too hot — you want your caffeine fix, not a third-degree burn! But the good news is that there’s no need for you to have to run late to work or resort to a power nap as there are many ways to deal with that blistering coffee.

In this post, you will come across some tips and tricks on how to cool coffee quickly and easily.

Take your pick — the right one will depend on factors such as how desperate you are to get your dose of caffeine or whether or not you want your coffee a certain way. Read on!

11 Ways to Cool Coffee When You Have no Time

Add Cold Water

One of the quickest ways to cool that searing coffee is by adding a little cold water to it — the colder the water, the sooner you can get some caffeine coursing through your bloodstream.

While capable of delivering results in no time, there is a downside to this hack: it will leave you with a weaker brew. It’s for this reason why perhaps you should go for this particular tip if your coffee is both too hot and too strong.

add milk to coffee

Add Cold Milk or Creamer

Like cold water, cold milk or creamer can take care of that extremely hot coffee in a snap. While it’s true that adding cold milk or creamer will weaken your coffee to some extent, the flipside is that it will make it richer and smoother.

Add Ice Cubes

Like your coffee black, which is why adding cold milk or creamer to a near-boiling cup of it isn’t an option? Then count on some ice cubes — in most instances, adding a single ice cube is more than enough to bring that beverage’s temperature down to a more comfortable and tolerable level.

But if its temperature is close to that of the sun, you might want to add a few more ice cubes.

There is no need to wait for the ice cubes to completely melt. Scoop out those ice cubes with a spoon after a while and check if your coffee is already at a more ideal temperature — put them back in if it’s still too scorching hot.

Of course, using ice cubes to cool coffee will leave you with a weaker brew. Fortunately, the subsequent tips and tricks can deliver without diluting your coffee — so don’t stop reading now!

Add Coffee Ice Cubes

Prefer your coffee hot but also love it iced from time to time? Then make sure that your freezer is never without iced coffee cubes. You will be more than happy to have them around whenever your cup of coffee is too hot or the hot weather calls for a tall glass of cool and refreshing iced coffee.

This tip requires some preparation, but at least it won’t dilute coffee — in fact, it can make it stronger, depending on how many coffee ice cubes you add to the brew.

coffee ice cubes

It’s easy to make coffee ice cubes. All you have to do is brew coffee in advance — it’s completely up to you if you want it strong or weak or just right. Let it cool completely and carefully transfer it to an ice cube tray. After a couple of hours, you can start using coffee ice cubes to cool your hot coffee or turn it into an ice-cold beverage.

Add Whiskey Stones

Also known as whiskey rocks, whiskey stones are wonderful alternatives to ice cubes. Not only are they reusable, thus enabling you to save on water bills, but also keep you from drinking a diluted caffeinated drink.

Whiskey stones are sold in sets, most of which cost around $10.

Place a Metal Spoon

Just occurred to you that there’s something you need to do quickly before you head out? To make sure that your coffee is no longer too hot afterward, dip a metal spoon in it and leave it there.

We all know that metal is a good conductor not only of electricity but also heat — the metal spoon will absorb some heat in coffee and allow it to dissipate into the surrounding air.

Dipping more than one metal spoon in coffee may be done if it’s really, really hot!

Refrigerate

You can also leave your blazing hot cup of coffee in the fridge for a while and let the kitchen appliance do the job for you. What’s so great about this hack is that it allows you to carry out a quick errand or two just before you have your much-needed caffeine fix without diluting your much-loved java.

But be wary: putting very hot coffee in the refrigerator can bring down the internal temperature, which is very bad news for highly perishable items in the fridge.

Freeze

There is a much faster way to cool your coffee than placing it in the refrigerator: stashing it in the freezer.

But before you place that burning coffee in the freezer, check that the cup or mug is durable enough to withstand sudden changes in temperature. Otherwise, your freezer could wind up in a mess and you might have to brew another cup of coffee, which you might have to allow to cool all over again just in case it ends up too hot.

To lower the risk of your cup or mug shattering and your frozen food items ending up soaking wet in coffee, you can try putting a couple of ice cubes to your beverage before letting it spend some time in the freezer to cool.

Transfer to a Large Saucer

Exposing as much of your burning coffee to the air around it allows it to lose much of its heat at a faster rate. And this is why you may consider transferring your coffee to a large saucer or wide bowl to let it cool quickly — the larger or wider the vessel, the shorter the cooling time.

For this hack, you might want to employ a funnel when it’s time to transfer the coffee back to the cup or mug in order to save yourself from having to clean up the kitchen afterward.

hot coffee

Transfer From Mug to Mug

Want to do some arm workouts while waiting for your coffee to cool? Grab another mug and pour the coffee back and forth from one mug to the other — it allows heat to escape as you do so.

By the way, this is my favorite way to cool down a hot liquid when I need to give it to my infant baby.

Blow on It

Last but not least, you can simply blow on your coffee if you can’t wait to get your buzz on. But keep in mind that the hotter your coffee is and the faster you want it to cool, the harder you will have to huff and puff.

But there’s a workaround: place it next to a fan or the AC.

Just Before You Do Something About That Piping Hot Coffee

Coffee aficionados agree that coffee is best served at a temperature ranging anywhere from 155°F to 175°F (68°C to 79°C), although most prefer it toward the higher end.

From time to time, however, brewing coffee at home can result in a cup of java that’s as hot as the sun!

It’s a good thing that you can have your caffeine fix in no time when this happens. All you have to do is experiment with the tips and tricks above each time your coffee ends up hotter than you want — count on one that seems to work for you the best and you don’t have to end up with a singed tongue ever again.

Related Questions

Does temperature affect caffeine content?

According to chemists, the solubility of caffeine is mainly driven by temperature. More caffeine dissolves in a solution at higher temperatures than in a solution at lower temperatures. So, in other words, your body may be able to absorb more caffeine faster when drinking coffee or true tea hot than iced.

Is hot-brewed coffee healthier than cold-brewed coffee?

Scientific investigations show that hot-brewed coffee makes more antioxidants from the coffee beans readily available than cold-brewed coffee. However, cold-brewed coffee is less acidic than hot-brewed coffee, which makes it a better option for people whose heartburn is triggered by coffee.

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