Microwaved coffee - as good as fresh coffee?

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by DRZion, Aug 27, 2009.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. DRZion Theoretical Experimentalist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,046
    The question is whether or not the flavor of coffee declines after you re-heat it in a microwave oven. The question is not whether coffee's flavor is degraded after re-heating, but whether coffee's flavor is degraded after re-heating particularly in a microwave.

    There are those that say food made in a microwave is less healthy, and perhaps there are reasons for this.

    Microwaves interact with water by spinning water molecules in place, which supposedly creates friction that heats up the area. If water is as complex as some scientists claim it to be, then this could disrupt water structure. Perhaps coffee particles and compounds arrange the structure of water in a certain way that gets disrupted after microwave heating.
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. madanthonywayne Morning in America Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,461
    Without getting into the physics of it at all, anything but fresh coffee tastes like crap. I have a coffee pot with a stainless steel thermal carafe. So the coffee is never heated once it's made. But even with that, if I try to re-heat the coffee in a microwave once it gets cold, it tastes like shit.
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    One of the things you might try, if you're not already doing it, is NOT to reheat the coffee in its cup. Heat it in a separate container and then pour it into the cup. Depending on the material the cup is made of, the microwaves can make it very hot too. I find when I drink my tea (sorry I'm not a coffee drinker) out of a scalding hot cup, the experience is just not what I wanted.

    Nonetheless, any experienced cook will tell you that reheating most edibles will not produce a taste as pleasant as the first time around. After all, heat doesn't just make the ingredients hotter, it cooks them--breaking some of the larger molecules into smaller ones. It may be just a little heat, but it cooks them just a little bit.

    Considering what a complicated mix of compounds coffee is, it stands to reason that if you heat it up a second time, especially close to boiling temperature, you might be changing that mix. You could be changing your high-priced, ground-per-cup, hand-pressed gourmet coffee into something equivalent to the stuff at the convenience store.

    Have you ever tried reheating a really good steak? It tastes like it came from IHOP.
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. weed_eater_guy It ain't broke, don't fix it! Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,516
    I just started work at a new office. I'm making coffee with the grounds in the fridge. They have a sell-by-date of October 2006. It's heavy-duty, hardcore dark coffee. It tastes like battery acid. I oughta bring in a new can but then this'd go to waste. Plus I'm lazy and cheap, there's the real excuse!

    I don't give a damn if this s--- is "fresh" or nuked, lol.

    this'd be a good one for fmylife.com, haha

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  8. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    Reminds me of a Tom Hanks movie whose title I've forgotten. He was famous for drinking the most disgusting coffee anyone in the office had ever tasted. Someone asked him why he didn't just drink battery acid. He replied: "No caffeine."

    That's all a lot of people want.
     
  9. DRZion Theoretical Experimentalist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,046
    I remember reading about the psychoactive properties of caffeine several years ago in NG. The brain becomes highly dependent on it's effects and when you cut back your brain kind of shuts down for a few days. Its also supposedly good for regulating the circadian rhythm.

    I'm actually a tea drinker myself. I left one of my tea cans open, and I wonder how it will taste several months from now. I bet the aroma will disappear, but other than that it should be fine. If it gets soggy or something it wont really matter since its going to get boiled. If I remember right there are varieties of tea that are partially molded..
     
  10. Nasor Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,231
    I doubt it. The only reasons I could see why the microwave would be worse would be if either it somehow damaged the coffee to heat up quickly (since the microwave will heat it faster than a hotplate or something), or if there were particulates in the coffee that were important to taste which absorbed microwaves much better than the water, and so got over-heated an burnt or something. But both of those scenarios seem unlikely to me.

    It would be easy enough to check with a blind taste test, assuming you can get enough people to humor you.
    That's probably not possible. Any "arrangement" of water molecules that happens in a warm liquid is very, very fleeting; the ordering lasts only very brief moments before the normal thermal motion etc. of the water molecules disrupted it. You would have to cool the coffee down to near its freezing temperature before any significant long-term (by which I mean "lasting more than a microsecond") ordering could take place.
     
  11. siledre Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    487
    yea, I don't like microwaves for reheating, I prefer a fresh cup of whatever I'm drinking
     
  12. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    Caffeine is an addictive drug, there's no denying that. And like any addictive drug it can produce withdrawal symptoms.

    But like all drugs, it doesn't have the same effect on everyone, particularly the intensity. I'm incredibly sensitive to it and have been a "recovering caffeine addict" my whole life. One ounce of cola in a measuring cup on Saturday morning will keep me bouncing off the ceiling all weekend.

    But most people don't find it quite so dangerous. Many can drink coffee right before bed.
    It's a central nervous system stimulant. Generally it causes a mild-to-severe increase in physical strength and endurance, and also in alertness and mental acuity. It also has unpredictable effects on mood and attitude, although in most people the effects are positive.

    I haven't gone back and read up on caffeine, but it appears to cause endorphin-debt. Withdrawal can bring anger, mild-to-severe depression or other emotional backlash, a falloff in mental and physical ability, and even physical discomfort.

    For the best information on caffeine and other drugs, check out the Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs. (It's out of print but you can get a used copy from Amazon for a couple of bucks.) It's a little old so it doesn't cover today's alphabet-soup drugs, but it's regarded by many in the counseling and rehab fields as the bible on the subject since the government has effectively thwarted all objective research on drugs.
    That aroma is from chemicals so volatile that they vaporize a little bit even at room temperature. Surely you know that except for sweet-salt-bitter-sour-savory, everything we call "taste" actually consists of aromas that we detect with our sense of smell. This is why food doesn't taste right when you have a respiratory ailment.

    Those aromas are the major components in what gives tea its flavor. They dissolve in the water when it's heated. If you let them escape into the ambience your special tea will end up tasting like Lipton. Tea must be stored in airtight containers. It doesn't hurt to keep it cool too, although I don't know whether it's okay to freeze it.
    Since those molecules can break down and leak out into the air, you can bet that they will easily soak out into room-temperature moisture and then efforvesce even more quickly into the air. It will happen more slowly than with hot water, but it will happen if you give it enough time. Tea must be kept dry. If it gets damp and you can't use it up in a couple of days you might as well throw it away.
    Indeed. That's one of the important ways that the various flavors are created. My favorite tea, lapsang souchong, is flavored with smoke.
    I'm not a coffee expert but my wife rails at me if I pour boiling water over my tea. It's supposed to be a few degrees short or the temperature disrupts the chemicals that give it the proper flavor.

    I do know that you're not supposed to boil coffee that's already brewed. The flavor comes from a complex combination of chemicals that are volatile at different temperatures. Boiling will destroy the most delicate ones and you'll end up with coffee of vending machine quality.
     
  13. DRZion Theoretical Experimentalist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,046
    Not necessarily, hydrophobic action is the primary mechanism that keeps the DNA helix intertwined. If coffee chemicals affect the pattern of water it may perhaps alter the way we perceive it's taste.

    Mmmmmmmm sugar water

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    Perhaps it is 'ordered water' that we taste on our tongue. Isn't it true that you don't taste much when your mouth is dry?
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2009
  14. Nasor Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,231
    DNA isn't water. Yes, the hydrophobic interactions that keep DNA together are stable for a long time at room temperature. But in water, the interactions aren't stable at room temperature. At room temperature any ordering that occurs will last only moments before being disrupted by thermal motion. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of nanoseconds to picoseconds. At higher temperatures (like you would find in hot coffee) that interactions will be even shorter lived. On a human timescale, they would basically be non-existent.
    There is absolutely no way that the chemicals in water could "pattern" in any sort of long-lasting way at room temperature. If you cool the water down to 4 C or so, close to the freezing point, then yes, the order could be fairly long-lasting. But no one drinks coffee that cold.
     
  15. DRZion Theoretical Experimentalist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,046
    I like my women like I like my coffee- ground up and in the freezer.
     
  16. Cybernetics Registered Member

    Messages:
    89
    The reason re heated coffe tastes like crap is the same reason as cona coffe tastes like crap when its been on too long, its burned and will taste somthing like tires or battery acid. Re heating coffe will burn it thus making it taste crap. Its the same reason you dont put properly boiling water over tea.
     
  17. K Ryan Registered Member

    Messages:
    19
    There are many who have studied the subject and observed the microwave to be much worse indeed. Here is just one page with a bit more information about the dangers of microwave ovens. relfe.com/microwave.html
     
  18. Nasor Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,231
    No offense, but that page is alarmist bullshit.

    This part was particularly hilarious:
     
  19. DRZion Theoretical Experimentalist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,046
    Wow, this does seem to show that microwave cooking is dangerous. I am probably missing some information and will feel very dumb soon.

    Unless the blood was simply overcooked, there is cause for concern.

    This could be true for anyone that eats; no control is given.
     
  20. X-Man2 We're under no illusions. Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    403
    Speaking of microwaving,is this appliance the best we can hope for when it comes to quickly re-warming/heating and even cooking our food and drinks? It almost seems so, since the microwave has been around now for a good while. You know unlike most everything else that keeps changing and getting faster,smaller etc. the area of warming/cooking foods is stagnant.And the worst thing,this area is in need of better technology advancement cause the microwave does only 1 thing well and that's heating quickly.It sucks at delivering oven like foods.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page