At one time or another, you’ve probably come back to your kitchen or office breakroom to find that the morning’s pot of coffee has gone cold. Or you let your Chemex brew sit too long while you got sucked into your favorite weekend read. Most people’s first instinct is to pop it in the microwave and warm it back up. But we’re here to tell you that reheating – any kind of reheating – can mess up the taste of your brew.
We tricked you with that headline. There’s really no good way to warm up your cold coffee.
Coffee is a one-and-done kind of thing. You brew it, you drink it, and if it gets cold, you brew again. We don’t like to reheat because it changes the chemical composition of the coffee – altering the taste and destroying the aromas. If you want hot coffee, we always recommend brewing a fresh cup.
If you’re out of coffee and you’re really desperate and you’re staring a cold cup or pot – still don’t reheat it. Drink it cold or over ice. It’ll taste better than reheated and it might even taste different than it did that morning, as fruit and citrus flavors tend to come forward as coffee cools.