[biohax2015]

Plenty of people have given you the details on the McDonald’s case, but I’d like to point folks to the documentary “Hot Coffee”, which covers cases similar to the McDs case where the blame is unjustly pushed onto consumers.

Just be warned that you will be come out of it angry.

[dpark]

I’m curious what the alternative is. People want their coffee hot. How do you serve them hot coffee without risk?

[biohax2015]

The problem was that the coffee was way, way hotter than it was supposed to be, which resulted in serious injury to the customer. The pictures are gruesome.

The blame was on McDonalds for negligently selling a dangerous product to a customer. You can look up the case for the details.

[dpark]

Standard coffee temperature recommendations reach 185. McDonald’s standards are up to 190. This is not “way hotter”.

I’ve read about the case.

[hcknwscommenter]

You are purposely conflating the temperature at which coffee should be made (~185), with the temperature at which coffee should be served (~160). Yes, some folks suggest they are drinking 175 degree coffee. Those folks are wrong.

[dpark]

This is a weird split. Do you typically make coffee and then leave it sitting for 20 minutes before consuming? I make coffee and then drink it.

Also, no. Coffee is brewed higher than 185. The Specialty Coffee Association on their own page advocates for 195-205 for brewing temp.

https://sca.coffee/research/protocols-best-practices

Wikipedia claims that SCA advises up to 185 for serving and that Starbucks does exactly that. I don’t see citations for this specifically, though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Rest...

“Similarly, as of 2004, Starbucks sells coffee at 175–185 °F (79–85 °C), and the executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America reported that the standard serving temperature is 160–185 °F (71–85 °C).”

[dpark]

For fun, I went and brewed a cup of coffee on my Nespresso. Coffee coming out was 185 degrees. The finished cup was 170 (but that obviously depends a lot on the cup).

If this was brewing into a foam cup, it would have been served very close to 185. Regardless I’m currently drinking a cup of coffee quite close to the 175 number you seem to think is unrealistic. Yeah, it’s hot. It’s definitely not the hottest coffee I’ve ever had, though.