Preheating Uncertainty

    The other day a light bulb went off as I asked myself, "why am I preheating my coffee cup?" I'm literally going to sit there for seven minutes, salivating, waiting for it to cool down and approach my body temperature. I certainly understand the desire to keep coffee warm for longer, but with the focus of optimizing quality specifically, I think it truly is a necessity to let it cool. I used to really enjoy the thought of getting steaming hot coffee, and then sipping it for a really long time. The problem though, is that you can't taste burning hot coffee nearly as well. 

    A possible reason being that your taste buds don't clearly perceive hot beverages/foods as well as cooler - is that the hot temperatures affectively prompt the tongue to prepare itself from something dangerous (ref 1). For the same reason getting punched in the arm hurts, the tongue should feel no different being burnt. I countlessly watch people hurt themselves by spilling hot coffee on them, and then directly afterward take a sip. It may not be necessarily that you can't taste as much, but that the taste gets masked my the tongue from going into defense mode.  

    Not only might the taste be diluted from exceedingly hot temperatures, but many chemical reactions are functions of temperature. For example, Chlorogenic acid breaks down into other acids in which is a dominant contributor to the acidity that is desired in coffee (ref 2). Without the acidity the coffee may taste flat or dull. Granted after to much of a temperature drop, as it further breaks into quinic and caffeic acid, it may produce overly bearing astringent and sourness. I would also like to encourage separating acidity/sourness to being associated with bitterness, for in the wonderful world of coffee they are essentially unrelated. 

    I think this is particularly relevant to pour over, or other forms where the coffee is brewed and then served instantly. Where as in an insulated vessel the temperature usually drops anyhow, and plus most coffee shops save their most prided coffees to be prepared fresh. It can be hard to serve a customer a great cup of coffee, where it could be even better if they would just wait a few more minutes before enjoying it. Especially when it is sitting there in front of them, because I'm sure not knowing any better I would do the same exact thing. 

    As means to let a customer experience the best cup of coffee that you may provide them - whether they know nothing or everything about coffee and in effort to provide that very cup, perhaps preheating could be just the icing on the cake. 


References: 
1)    leming, Amy. "Hot or Not? How Serving Temperature Affects the Way Food Tastes."Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

2)    Rao, Scott. "Roasting Chemistry." The Coffee Roaster's Companion. Canada. 89. Print.