06 Sep

proper order of ingredients in coffee

I was just thinking about this while making my coffee.

If you use a spoon to put in your granules, then use that same spoon to put in sugar, then you will get coffee granules in the sugar bowl, which could irritate the tea-drinkers. It’s safer to do it the other way around, as generally, coffee drinkers like a bit of sugar in their mug.

If you put the milk in after the water, then the milk will get scalded. Think of it a drop at a time. One drop of milk falls down and hits a load of hot water drops, so the milk drop heats up very quickly and possibly curdles. Compare that to the opposite – you pour hot water into cold milk. The first drop of hot water hits a load of cold milk drops; the milk will heat up slightly, and the water will cool quickly. It is best to pour in the water last, in my opinion – unless you like your coffee creamy, instead of milky.

The only real question, then, is whether to pour the milk in before the coffee and sugar. I do notice, though, that when you pour granules into liquid, it takes longer to saturate them, than if you pour liquid into granules (the pouring tends to act chaotically on the granules, allowing the saturation to complete much quicker). My opinion is that the milk should be poured in after the granules.

So, the order in which a proper cup of granulated coffee should be made:

  1. Sugar granules
  2. Coffee granules
  3. Milk
  4. Water

Now that I’ve taken the time to write about it, I feel justified in drinking this well-considered cup of coffee.

One thought on “proper order of ingredients in coffee

  1. In searching for the very basic, yet essential requirements for a great cup of coffee, I came upon your site and found it most insightful. Thanks for sharing with the world.

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