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Original poster

To wonder why women 65+ are all determined that coffee should be mouthscaldingly hot

328 replies

Everythingisnumbersnow · 17/01/2025 09:09

My mum, her friends, all the ladies

A normal temp is "cold please bring another one"

Is this an era thing or will it come for me too?

OP posts:
RaraRachael · 17/01/2025 10:17

I'm 62 and am fed up getting served lukewarm everything - every drink I get is barely warm, food in restaurants ditto. Don't know if this is some health and safety thing that's been introduced in the past few years as it never used to be like this.
The only way I can get a drink from Costa etc that's acceptably hot is to ask for extra hot.

MurdoMunro · 17/01/2025 10:16

Look. The way I like my coffee is obviously the right way in all circumstances and if you demand it any other way you are both wrong and a peasant. I judge you for that and you should take some time to educate yourself. It’s embarrassing.

I have scorned z’s, millennial’s, x’s, boomers, Karens and incels for their lack of taste and culture. It’s not a generational or gender issue. I blame teachers and mothers so I have been gathering all the neighbour kids under 10 and am teaching them how to drink coffee properly to put an end to this utter nonsense.

Talipesmum · 17/01/2025 10:16

Fourecks · 17/01/2025 10:04

Apparently this is a thing, but it's a generation thing, not an age thing.

I can't find the article I read on it previously, but it's something to do with the way coffees used to be made and served at scalding temperatures, usually using instant coffee. So Boomers grew up with very hot coffee and that's what they like.

Most places don't make coffee like that anymore, probably partly because of being sued for burns and partly because people use fancy beans these days and don't want to burn them. So following generations grew up with coffee of a different temperature.

As with all generational generalisations, there will be Boomers who like lukewarm coffee and other generations who prefer very hot coffee - but as a general trend, this holds true.

So to answer your question, no, you are very unlikely to switch to wanting scalding coffee when you hit 65.

Yes, agree with this and a couple of other PPs who said the same.

OP you’re saying it’s a “normal coffee machine temperature” - normal for lots of coffee machines now, not normal for coffee temperatures a couple of decades ago. Worth recognising that norms change over time and while some will be happily adopted by many, others are going to just perpetually annoy people who liked it very well how it was before. It’s annoying to have to drink your coffee within 3 mins of it arriving, otherwise it would be cold.

Also failing to see the annoyance in warm plates. Why would you want your food to go cold more quickly if you could choose to have it warmer?

Am mid 40’s btw.

Hanto · 17/01/2025 10:16

Fraaances · 17/01/2025 10:01

They grew up with instant coffee with boiled water from the kettle and a dash of milk. Espresso isn’t as hot.

By the tone of some posts on this thread, you’d think they grew up before the Industrial Revolution!

Period novels often circumstantially suggest a far greater tolerance for ‘cold’ hot drinks in the past. Dorothy L Sayers novels written and set in the 1930s often depict people saying they’ll put a saucer on top of someone’s half-drunk cup of tea or coffee to keep it for them while they need to go and do something.

LBFseBrom · 17/01/2025 10:14

Astripofgold · 17/01/2025 10:11

This is me and if I forget because say someone calls me unexpectedly, I’ll boil the kettle again before pouring it out. I like my iced drinks super cold and my hot drinks hot.

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I also boil the kettle if making instant but I don't pour on boiling water, I wait a bit. It destroys the flavour if you boil coffee. It's not tea which is better for boiling water. It's still quite hot.

brunettemic · 17/01/2025 10:14

I’m just impressed you’ve managed to meet every woman over 65 in the world. How did you do it? Also, how do you keep on top of it given people have birthdays everyday.

Brefugee · 17/01/2025 10:14

Everythingisnumbersnow · 17/01/2025 10:00

The coffee wasn't cold it was a normal out of the coffee machine temperature

She was being ludicrous

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And yet she is the customer.

KimberleyClark · 17/01/2025 10:13

I’m 63. My mother used to use a stove top percolator when I was growing up. She did start drinking instant later. And yes filter coffee that had been standing on the hot plate for a while was disgusting.

Astripofgold · 17/01/2025 10:11

Crocsake · 17/01/2025 10:09

I, at 39, will wait by the kettle as it boils so I can instantly pour out the freshly boiled water into my mug to ensure it is as hot as I can possibly get it before I drink it. YABU. And what of it.

This is me and if I forget because say someone calls me unexpectedly, I’ll boil the kettle again before pouring it out. I like my iced drinks super cold and my hot drinks hot.

Mooosewoman · 17/01/2025 10:11

StrugglingwithIvanhoe · 17/01/2025 10:04

I am so so tired of this ageist shit.

Yep. If it’s not MILs it’s anyone over 60. Tiresome. 🥱

HereBeWormholes · 17/01/2025 10:11

WhoPutTheBomp · 17/01/2025 10:08

Asbestos claw? Wtf?

So ageist.

Said with respect - she was a tough as old boots war baby.

LBFseBrom · 17/01/2025 10:11

Not me. I'm well past 65 and know coffee should not be too hot, thought everyone knew that. If it is scaldingly hot it spoils the flavour.

Thighdentitycrisis · 17/01/2025 10:10

I think it is a generational thing. Coffee was always served much hotter than it is now in coffee shops. Since coffee drinking became a lifestyle (about 20 years), people have grown up only drinking coffee prepared by specialist baristas who have researched coffee to the nth degree. They serve coffee at a lower temperature. To older people it’s cold.

Crocsake · 17/01/2025 10:09

I, at 39, will wait by the kettle as it boils so I can instantly pour out the freshly boiled water into my mug to ensure it is as hot as I can possibly get it before I drink it. YABU. And what of it.

venus7 · 17/01/2025 10:09

Everythingisnumbersnow · 17/01/2025 09:09

My mum, her friends, all the ladies

A normal temp is "cold please bring another one"

Is this an era thing or will it come for me too?

What does 'all the ladies' refer to?

Catza · 17/01/2025 10:09

I am 41 and I have been drinking scolding coffees and tees since I was old enough to drink caffeinated drinks. If I want a tepid drink, I can just have tap water.

Original poster
Everythingisnumbersnow · 17/01/2025 10:08

Everythingisnumbersnow · 17/01/2025 10:07

How is it ageist? Different age groups DO have different behaviours. Feel free to do a thread on how millennials hate using the phone and I'll agree.

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By text obviously

OP posts:
WhoPutTheBomp · 17/01/2025 10:08

Asbestos claw? Wtf?

So ageist.

Original poster
Everythingisnumbersnow · 17/01/2025 10:07

Mooosewoman · 17/01/2025 10:02

Oh goody another ageist thread.

How is it ageist? Different age groups DO have different behaviours. Feel free to do a thread on how millennials hate using the phone and I'll agree.

OP posts:
BIossomtoes · 17/01/2025 10:07

Calypso321 · 17/01/2025 09:52

My Nanna and MIL (they are the same age, around 75), are the same. Everywhere we go they always ask for their drinks to be ‘extra hot’. No idea why.

Because that’s how they like them?

Rachmorr57 · 17/01/2025 10:06

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Mosaic123 · 17/01/2025 10:05

I'm in my 60s. Coffee used to be served from a glass pot resting under the machine it was made in (using a paper filter). If the coffee wasn't very hot in a restaurant/cafe it meant it had been there a long time and was therefore not very fresh, somewhat stewed. Therefore cool coffee means old bitter coffee.

BigSilly · 17/01/2025 10:05

The manufacturers say the optimum temperature of water to prepare coffee is about 93-95 degrees.

Cornflakes123 · 17/01/2025 10:05

No it’s not an era thing. I’m in my 30s and cannot abide coffee or tea that isn’t piping hot.

StrugglingwithIvanhoe · 17/01/2025 10:04

I am so so tired of this ageist shit.