My grandmother, every morning, used to open a can of Hills Brothers coffee, put the ground coffee in a percolator and place the percolator on top of a wood stove. After the coffee had finished “perking” she pulled it off the stove and served it. My grandfather loved it; it was hot, black and gave him a jolt to start his day. She then put the percolator back on the stove and let it boil some more, just in case he needed another jolt.
It wasn’t great coffee but who knew the difference. If you are reading this, you know the difference. You know the five elements of a great cup of coffee, beans, water, brewing temperature and extraction time. But do you know whether or not your coffee maker is brewing at the right temperature?
According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the National Coffee Association, the optimal temperature for brewing a great cup of coffee is 197.6 – 204.8 F. If the temperature of the water is too low under extraction occurs. Since acids in the beans are the first substances to dissolve, the coffee will taste weak and have a sour flavor.
If the water temperature is too high, then over extraction occurs and the coffee tastes bitter. Hula Daddy Kona Coffee brewed at the right temperature tastes sweet and flavorful, doesn’t burn your throat and doesn’t give you “coffee mouth.”
There are a number of reviews on coffee makers including Consumer Reports and Cooks Illustrated. They all test coffee makers to see if the water going into the brew basket is between 197 and 205 F. However, they are all testing new coffee makers. We have tested a number of used coffeemakers and found that after a few months that the brewing temperature drops drastically. One popular used coffeemaker we tested was brewing coffee at 156 F.
Many coffee makers use thermocouples to control the temperature of the brew water. Thermocouples are mechanical and they tend to wear out after a few months of use. (Often just after the warranty expires.) As they wear out the temperature of the brew water begins to decline. The result is that the coffee becomes weak and sour. Users sometimes try to step up the brew flavor by putting more coffee in the brew basket. The only solution is a new coffee brewer.
If you use a drip coffee maker, you should periodically take a meat thermometer and place it under the water discharge head on your coffeemaker. It should read close to 200F. If you can’t get to the head, check the temperature of the coffee coming out of the filter. It should be about 180F. If your temperature is below or above the recommended temperature you need a new coffeemaker.
If you are looking for a new coffee maker, the coffeemakers certified by the Specialty Coffee Association to brew coffee at 200 F are:
- Technivorm Moccamaster
- Bunn Phase Brew 8 Cup Coffee Brewer
- Brazen Plus Customizable Temperature Control Brew System
- KitchenAid Coffee Maker KCM0802
- KitchenAid Pour Over Coffee Brewer (model KCM0801OB)
- Bonavita Coffee Maker (model BV1900TS)
- Bonavita BV1900TD 8-Cup Digital Coffee Brewer
- OXO On 9-Cup Coffee Maker
- OXO On 12-Cup Coffee Maker
- Wilfa Precision Coffee Maker
Why we have to brew coffee at 200F? Just wonder
The article explains that: to get just the right amount of extraction without it being bitter or giving you “coffee mouth”.
Technivorms are not the only coffeemakers certified by the Specialty Coffee Association to brew coffee at 200F. Bonavita’s and Bunn HG Brewers are too and both are considerably cheaper than Technivorms.
And neither existed when this article was posted.
or a year later…
or a year after that…
or after that…
Well, of course you and Dan are both right. Since our blog new brewers have come on the market that will continue to brew at 200F. The most recent is the Bunn Trifecta MB, at $500. Thanks to both of you for your comments. Come see us in Kona if you get a chance.
I just tested the temperature of my $20 Black & Decker single cup coffee maker and it registered a perfect 160 degrees in the cup. I paid $10 for it on sale. So you never know!
I just checked my Black & Decker 10 cup machine, with uncertain results.
A temperature probe in the (double wall) carafe registered 171f at the end of the brew. I tried measuring where the water comes from the “spout” & drops onto the grounds, but my temp sensor is about3 inches long, and only part of it is in the hot water (intermittent) stream. For what it’s worth, I measured 184f there.
Aloha Rich I think you may want to prewarm your carafe by letting it sit with some hot water in it, then pouring out the water and brewing. On your brewing temperature it sounds close. Run a “brew” without grounds and without the basket, that way you can get to the water. You will probably have a small flood but you can use a bowl or do it in the sink. Mahalo Karen
I am writing a blog article about my quest for the perfect coffee maker. May I link to your site? This page was indirectly responsible for the awesome coffee brewer I just bought.
Aloha Michelle Of course Mahalo Karen
I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I don’t know who you are
but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
The article says, “If you use a drip coffee maker, take a meat thermometer and place it under the water discharge head on your coffeemaker. It should read close to 200F. If you can’t get to the head, check the temperature of the coffee coming out of the filter. It should be about 160F.”
If you can’t reach the head, why not just run the brewer without any coffee grounds and check the temperature of the hot water as it comes out the drip spout?
There’s no need to buy a $200 coffee brewer. I suggest you buy a cheap brewer at a store with a good return policy and check the temperature this way before brewing any coffee. If it fails the temperature test, just pack it up and bring it back to the store. Happy brewing!
Of course. Good alternatives. However, there will be a drop in termperature in the brew basket. So add a factor for the drop in temperture. If you are going to take the coffee pot back, make sure you go to a store that will give you an easy return and don’t lose the sales slip. Thank you for your suggestions.
After reading this info I checked my 7 year old Mr. Coffee,(yes, it’s STILL working!), and found the temp to be around 135 degrees. So now, when I brew coffee, I fill it with tap water, turn the output thingy to pour back into the reservoir so it “recycles” the water, getting hotter and hotter, and about 6-8 minutes later get a temp of around 200. Then I turn the output thingy over the grounds and brew away. I end up with great tasting, fully extracted coffee.
There’s another way: Just buy a thermo-pot by Panasonic or Zojirushi, which is typically used for tea. The newer ones have four temps: 208, 190, 180, 140. The 208 water can be dispensed into a small metal pitcher, and by the time you pour it over the grounds in your manual Melitta coffeemaker ($10), you’re at or about at the optimal 200 degrees. This way you can also “wet” the grounds for 10 seconds or so before totally submerging them.
You also can use the gizmo to make tea, hot chocolate, cup of soup, etc.
208 (comes up to full 212 in about 10 s): herbal tea, black tea, Oolong
190 Genmai-cha
180 Green tea, white tea, Jasmine tea (made with white or green tea)
140 Gyokuro (Jade Dew); also use this temp to warm up a baby bottle!
Cheers.
Yes. This is called a pour over brew. You can read our take on it at https://www.huladaddy.com/?p=1754
You’re right, there’s nothing new about it. It was purportedly invented by a German housewife named Frau Bentz in 1908. Oh, her first name? Melitta.
Correction, Bentz’ her breakthrough was the use of a paper filter, which did away with having to scrape, rinse and wring out stained cloth filters, old socks, etc. The name of the true inventor of the “pour-over” method is lost to antiquity, probably a Young Turk. Which was a good thing, because any unfiltered coffee (Greek/Turkish coffee, boiled Swedish coffee, French press etc.) is known to raise serum cholesterol levels.
Thanks for this info. I have been trying to find the right coffeemaker for so long now. I really liked my old Mr. Coffee machine with the stainless carafe; however it was brewing way too cold, as are most of the new makers on the shelf at the local Walmart. So determined to find the right one I have been searching online, and asking various makers what their brew temperatures were for their models.
Only here have I found the answer. Please update this list if you can.
Thank you again.
Hi there just wanted to give you a quick
heads up. The words in your content seem to be running off the
screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a formatting
issue or something to do with browser compatibility but
I figured I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though!
Hope you get the issue fixed soon. Many thanks
I have an unconventional “lash up” (an Alaskan terminology for cobbling stuff together) for brewing great coffee. I use a Chemex glass coffeemaker and filters and a Norelco Dial-a-Brew I bought off of eBay. I toss the carafe and that funky basket stuff and then either the 6 or 8 cup Chemex fit in the Norelco brewing portion. The Norelco unit is 1500 watts and when I checked the water in the Chemex funnel it was 190°. My meat thermometer needs 1″ submerged to give an accurate reading so reading the stream of water was not practical. The Chemex is $35-$40 and the same for the Norelco on eBay. Cheap, fast and great tasting coffee.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This article was great news. I just put my laser to the water, best I could get was 158. On my way to the store………… wondered why our Coffee tasted like sludge!
I recently had my Sunbeam piece of junk crap out, just months after the warranty expired so I bought a new Black and Decker. Same crap as the Sunbeam as far as coffee temperature. I like hot coffee and this thing makes dishwater temperature coffee. What a waste of money!
I poured a cup and tested the temperature. Just barely over 165°F. I sent them a complaint and have been ignored. Not surprised. They know they’re selling junk.
I recently picked up the Bonavita, noted here as one maker that brews genuinely hot coffee, and I’ve gotta say that has not been my experience with it. Even with preheating the carafe and fiddling around with the temperature of the water going in (I tried everything from cold to hot and all points in between), the result is pretty much what I’d call lukewarm. I’m returning it.
The Technivorm was tempting me as a replacement for the Bonavita, but now I’m not so sure. They seem pretty similar. The main reason I wanted to replace my old workhorse Cuisinart was that it wasn’t making the coffee hot enough for me! And the Bonavita was NO BETTER.
Maybe I’ll just buy a kettle and start doing a pour-over by hand for each cup. I mean, then I’ll know the water is actually boiling.
Aloha Helen
I think you got a lemon. Bonavita’s when they work are great, but they are a lot of complaints on Amazon about their quality. We have both a Bonavita and a Technivorm. They both work well, but we may be lucky. There are a lot of new pots on the market that have caught on to the need to maintain 200 brew water. Look for pots with reservoirs that heat the water before brewing. Bunn and Zorochi have new pots out that keep water at 200. Keep brewing. Mahalo Karen
I’ve used my Technivorm twice a day for 8 years and still love it. It’s nothing fancy, but it delivers the perfect water temp everytime. I can’t imagine using anything else.
Hi folks. I was all set to go out a buy a new coffeemaker to replace our Melitta thermal carafe 10 cdigital reader up maker that I paid $60 for at our local Canadian Tire store 4 years ago because my wife said the coffee hasn’t been tasting as hot lately and also because I at first believed a couple of online “expert reviewers” who said that the thermal heaters in coffee makers can lose a fair bit of their ability to heat water after even a few months. Before spening lots of money on a new coffee maker I decided to test the brewing temp in our coffeemaker. I simply put our digital meat thermometer into the basket with the pin inside and the digital reader just outside the lid and let the water pour over it as it brewed. Well folks, I guess all the hype ain;t necessarily true all of the time as our relatively inexpensive coffee maker registered 200 degree F every time the water poured over it. Even when I inserted it into the carafe immediately after the brewing was finished it still registered 192 degrees (the temp goes down very quickly even when your carafe is sealed). I think the problem is that even thermal carafes lose heat more quickly than the makers advertise, so insted of investing in a $300 brewer I think I will take the carafe our daughter gave us for Christmas out of the cupboard and give it a try.
Congratulations. You are one of the lucky ones. Keep doing what you are doing.
“You know the five elements of a great cup of coffee, beans, water, brewing temperature and extraction time.”
I give up… what is the 5th element?
Grinding