Tips for keeping your coffee warm this winter

Keeping your coffee warm in the winter can feel like a battle against nature but rest assured, you can win this round! Let’s restate, you can win this round and still have great tasting coffee*. Below are some easy tips for keeping your coffee warmer, longer.

Preheat: Your first preemptive attack against premature cooling is brewing into a preheated bowl and pouring into a preheated cup. While this may seem insignificant, it is essential for preventing flavor loss and cooling upon contact. 

Insulate: The next step in preserving your coffee is to ensure your brewer and / or cup are properly insulated to prevent heat loss. There are many ways to insulate your coffee, with the easiest being to brew into and / or use a thermal pot or mug. A high quality, pre-heated thermal pot can keep coffee warm and fresh for up to 3 hours. Lids, those pesky little spill protectors, are also good insulators, helping to keep your coffee warmer longer. This is particularly important for black coffee drinkers. Black coffee cools more quickly than coffee with milk.

Create a heat-trapping barrier: Creating a heat-trapping barrier around your cup is another easy way to prolong the warmth and flavor of your coffee. A heat-trapping barrier can be a double-walled cup, a mug warmer or cozy, or even something as simple as a mitten or scarf wrapped around your cup. Any additional barrier between your coffee and the air will help trap the delicious warmth in your cup.

Add to your cup wisely: What you do or do not put into your coffee can greatly impact its heat life. If you take your coffee with milk or half-and-half, you are encouraging your coffee to cool. The solution? Switch to cream for the winter. Even though the cream itself may be cool, the cream’s viscosity and fat slow down evaporation and heat loss.

We hope this helps you enjoy that long, rich winter cup!

*Never put your coffee in the microwave or on a warming plate. Reheating or overheating brewed coffee burns the coffee, leaving it with a sour, bitter taste.