Can you reheat coffee the next day? If so, should you do it, and how? Let’s find out if drinking a cup of old coffee is still acceptable.
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I tend to brew more coffee than I need. Can I reheat coffee the next time I drink it? What would be the best way to warm coffee up?
Owly Choice reader Cecilia
Cecilia reached out with a fantastic question of whether it is possible to reheat coffee.
Here is a common scenario each of us has experienced at least once before: we brew a cup of delicious coffee, it is steamy hot, we have a few sips, but then we get busy with daily chores and forget about it. Before we know, our previously-delicious coffee is now cold, and we have all this coffee left.
Should you reheat coffee? If so, how?
The general advise when it comes to reheating coffee is: you should not reheat coffee if coffee is left for an extended period of time, but you can reheat coffee if coffee got cold after a short period of time. There are several reasons related to taste, quality and possibility of contamination (if left for an extended period of time).
However, if coffee was left for just a couple of hours, there are a few ways to re-heat coffee in a way that would not damage the flavor. Let’s follow along.
Why you shouldn’t reheat coffee
While entirely possible to warm coffee up after it gets cold, we typically recommend to proceed with caution. Reheating coffee incorrectly may lead to over-saturation, and thus pretty ugly flavors.
The chemical composition of coffee changes as coffee gets cold, which also changes its taste. Because of this, cold coffee will have a more acidic taste than hot coffee. But when we reheat cold coffee, that chemical composition changes even further, altering the taste of our no-longer-delicious coffee further away from its original quality. In consequence, it renders coffee quite undrinkable for real coffee connoisseurs.
While we at Owly Choice can drink reheated coffee, it doesn’t give us real pleasure. And, we only drink coffee for pleasure, right?
However, proceed with caution if your coffee drink has been left outside for an extended period of time. Coffee can catch mold and other bacteria if left out for a whole day. If you really intend to reheat your coffee, it is best to keep it sealed in a thermal recipient.
How to reheat coffee?
There are certain methods we can use to reheat coffee. The best method in this case will be the one that alters the taste of our coffee the least. The main “danger” when it comes to reheating coffee is burning it, so we need to choose the reheating method with that in mind.
Here are a few methods you can use if you need to reheat your coffee.
Hot milk or water
One of the best ways to reheat coffee is to add hot milk or water to it. This method changes alters the original flavor of coffee the least (minus additional milk or water). While this method will not make coffee extremely hot, it can warm it up sufficiently to finish up a drink.
Steam wand
Using a steam wand to warm coffee up is a creative method. Using the steam wand of your coffee machine (typically with espresso machines) can reheat coffee quite efficiently, but it may impact the taste of the coffee a lot. You can try doing it, but the flavor can be strange.
Microwave
The microwave is the fastest reheating method. We are embarrassed to admit that we have used a microwave several times to reheat coffee the next day.
But, while reheating coffee in the microwave is fast, it also alters the flavor of coffee. As we discussed earlier, the chemical composition of coffee changes are the coffee gets cold. Take that coffee and put it in the microwave, and the chemical composition will change even further.
The way microwaves heat anything is by triggering a fast chemical reaction that impacts the taste of anything you put them.
On the stove
Reheating coffee on the stove can work well, as long as you are careful not to burn the coffee. The heat will need to be at the minimum, and you will need to keep stirring the coffee.
But this method takes time and attention, and it would be faster to just brew new coffee rather than reheating old one.
On a warming plate
Some people reheat their coffee the next day by placing a coffee carafe with cold coffee on the coffee machine, and turning on a hot plate.
That is the least efficient reheating method to reheat coffee. Not only it will take a very long time just to warm up the coffee, but this method has the highest potential of burning the coffee.
The hot plate will basically send heat into the lower layers of the coffee liquid, but it will not reach the higher layers. Also, hot plates are not designed to heat up coffee, but rather to maintain the temperature at a constant level.
Owly’s conclusion: should you reheat coffee the next day?
When it comes to reheating coffee, we do not recommend doing so. The methods we discussed are ok, but it is always better to brew a cup of fresh coffee. Reheated coffee will likely taste bad, and it’s not worth it.
An option to consider if your coffee went cold, is also to just drink it cold. Add some ice cubes to it, and maybe some cold milk, and you create a nice glass of ice coffee. Some people buy fancy iced coffee machines for cold brews!
What do you think?
Do you reheat coffee the next day? What are your ways of warming coffee up? Do you like reheated coffee?
Let us know in the comments!
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