Summer seasons are enjoyable when you spend time on the beach and a cold drink to cool you down. In the same case, hot coffee will not suit you during the summer. Sometimes you think you would enjoy a cup of hot coffee but because of the heat, you end up frustrated. Wondering how you can cool your coffee without losing its flavor? Can you put hot coffee in the fridge?
Yes, you can put your hot coffee in the fridge, However, it is hard to measure the time it would take to lower the temperature of your coffee. If you leave it for a longer time it will become cold and you wouldn’t want a cold coffee, therefore instead of going for the hustle of checking your coffee every minute in the fridge. You can prepare ice before brewing then after you brew, pour your coffee in the ice, and let it cool.
Can you put hot coffee in the fridge overnight?
Coffee preserves its flavors for a long when it’s cold. Therefore after brewing your coffee in the morning, pour it into an airtight container and put it in the refrigerator. This coffee can be consumed within 4 days. The coffee can be reheated but it won’t taste as good as it should when it is fresh.
Use a glass container rather than a plastic container because it does not retain any flavors. A plastic jar can influence the taste of the coffee.
Can you put hot coffee in the fridge to make iced coffee?
Indeed, hot coffee can be used to make iced coffee. Let’s say that you made your coffee in the morning and just had a cup or two and you wonder what to do with the rest of the coffee. Well, worry no more, put your in the fridge and make iced coffee.
Here is how to do it:
- First remove your coffee from the stove
- Pour it in the ice cube tray and then freeze. Alternatively pour your coffee in an air tight jar and then freeze. Whenever you want to use the coffee, take the jar of coffee from the freezer and put it in the refrigerator,give it 24 hours then your liquid coffee is ready.
- Use the ice cubes to cool your hot coffee the next morning and also add milk for a delicious cup.
How long does it take for coffee to cool down in the fridge?
It may not be a good idea to put a coffee in the fridge and then keep on checking whether the temperature has lowered or not. How many times would open the fridge, fearing that it may become cold? How much cold air would be lost during the opening and closing of the fridge? Also putting something hot in the fridge makes your fridge work extra hard.
However, there are other ways to cool down your coffee;
- Pour your coffee in a wide container so the there a larger surface to loose heat
- Put few regular ice cubes or even coffee ice cubes, this will help the coffee to cool much faster. On how many ice cubes,it will depend on the quantity of your coffee. Is it a jar or just a cup of hot coffee.
- Alternatively, put the cup of hot coffee in an ice bath and let it cool to your desired temperature.
- Pour your coffee in a metal cup which looses heat easily than glass. Or even freezing the metal cup earlier so that cooling process is faster.
Is iced coffee just cold coffee?
There is quite a big difference between iced and cold coffee. Below is a table to show how cold coffee differs from iced coffee.
Here is the difference between cold brew vs iced coffee;
| Iced coffee | Cold coffee |
| It requires a heat source to brew extracting sugars, oils, and caffeine. | Cold coffee is brewed by soaking ground coffee beans in cold water or in room temperature water for about 12 hours to extract flavors. |
| It has less caffeine. | It has high levels of caffeine which many coffee users are looking for. |
| It may taste as having strong acidity but it doesn’t | It has low levels of acidity due to a long period of the steeping process. This makes it easier to digest. |
| It has less flavor because of the ice unless the amount of ground coffee is doubled. | It has more flavors since it has taken a lot of time to brew. |
| Can be served on ice | Can be served with milk or water |
