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

[Everythingisnumbersnow]

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?

I’m not that age yet and don’t like drinks hot but food has to be really hot for me.

I wonder if it's to do with the famous American McDonalds coffee case where the woman got serious burns? (She was much mocked for suing, but she sustained significant burns to a lot of her body).

Perhaps it used to be industry standard to produce scalding hot drinks, and that's what older generations are used to?

I'm 36, and I was a plate warmer, but I went off it when I had my son as I didn't want hot plates near him when he was little, or piping hot food near him (DH got frustrated when I kept turning down scorching plates he was trying to pass me whilst feeding a newborn!).

It might have something to do with us being a nation of tea drinkers turned coffee drinkers. Coffee is best served at a lower temperature. I can’t bear lukewarm tea but I can drink coffee practically cold.

It's too early for this ageist nonsense.

If I want a cold coffee I'll have it iced.
I make all hot drinks with boiling water. They end up lukewarm anyway as I've got ADHD so the drink ceases to exist once it leaves my hand but I wouldn't want them to start off that way!

Agree. We ancient retirees aren’t up and dressed yet, never mind making hot drinks 😉

This is how I make my coffee, when at home:

1. Bone china mug, 1/3 filled with full-fat, organic milk. Heated for 1 minute 30 seconds in the microwave at 800W.
2. In parallel coffee machine switched on and heated up (it is a bean to cup).
3. Mug removed from microwave (milk is just steaming).
4. Coffee setting on machine is either strong or very strong, 150ml.
5. Press button, beans ground and coffee delivered.
6. Optional teaspoon on 600+ Manuka honey.
7. Coffee hot, but able to be sipped with care.

Any cooler and it gets too cold before you can finish the mug. 2 things I cannot stand are coffee that is not hot enough and milky "foam".

Yes. Delete please @MNHQ.

I don’t like to ingest my food or drink very hot but still try and make sure it’s served that way, whether it’s for myself or someone else, then everyone can start it when they feel it’s ready.

I don’t necessarily this this is ageist though (although Op pointing to an age and just women is not ideal) I just think that people that have been adults before ‘burn/scalds became a safety issue in temp of selling food/drinks’ will be used to having drinks really hot. I must admit it really bugs me (I don’t drink hot drinks) the insistence of boiling hot drinks around babies/toddlers. I am of the generation that is aware of the life changing effects of scalds and burns to children which I believe has reduced massively. I would serve a big selection of cold, alcoholic/not alcoholic drinks to brief visitors to our house to visit our kids when toddlers but not hot drinks and some people don’t seem to be able to go 10 minutes without a boiling hot brew or coffee.

The younger generation have been softened up by coffee shops like Starbucks, who make their drinks lukewarm because they are scared of being sued if someone burns themselves.

My mum is the same. Turns her nose up at our beloved cafe in the park because the coffee is too cold. I don't know, I only drink tea, but no one else except my mum seems to have an issue. But it really annoys me as that cafe got us through three children's babyhoods, daughter took her first steps there, we really love it!

I'm not even 40 and if I have a hot drink, I want it to be hot!

DC works in a National Trust cafe. Often people will come.and complain about their coffee being too cold after they've watched them sit chatting and not taking a sip for 15 minutes! Older customers at NT cafes appear to be very particular about their drinks when ordering. I just order a coffee that is named on the board but it seems that's not the behaviour of many who frequent the NT cafes 😄 It's a whole other world. It does give DC a lot to talk about when they get home from work.

This. If I'm paying for a coffee I expect it to be hot. If I'm at someone's house it's being made with boiling water from the kettle or a fancy machine then I would expect it to be hot. I would expect food I am served in either situation to be hot too. Perfectly normal expectation

Why. I’m 66 and surely our replies are making the Op look ridiculous - my liking for very hot drinks has spanned 50 years.

I’m 66 and like all my hot drinks served at boiling water temperature. I drink it quite fast. All my now adult children are horrified by this. But I drink a hot drink because it’s hot. If I want a cold drink I drink water. I loathe coffee shop coffee being served luke warm which I too equate with the McDonald’s law suit of years ago. But if you serve a drink very hot people can just wait a while or add more milk/ water to cook it down. Incidentally I never have ice in my cold drinks

Agist rubbish

Same age and agree. I hate drinking luke warm coffee. I met a friend for coffee recently and my drink was just about perfect temperature, after a few minutes it was starting to get too lukewarm. So I drank it down. I like it to start off scalding hot so I can nurse it a bit longer.

Me too. The amount of times I’ve returned a coffee because it’s clock cold (looks at you Starbucks) is many. I’ve been like this since I started drinking my tea black in my teens.

YABU to generalise about millions of people from your experience of a small group.

When I was busy with babies, breastfeeding. I got used to making a drink, being interrupted and finishing a tepid drink. I'm drinking cold tea now 😁

Husband likes hot plates for dinner, doesn't happen unless a takeaway.

oh the ageism. It is tedious.

Think of it this way: a lot of those women will have spent large chunks of their lives looking after other people, their kids, their parents, relatives... and every time they make a coffee it sits there getting cold.

and now they want hot coffee. Until you reach that age? how about you keep your feelings to yourself and be kinder?

(ETA to make it less harsh)

Several (possible) reasons:

1. Coffee and tea might have been drunk hotter perfectly

1. When you are older you tend to feel the cold more so want a nice hot drink to warm you up

1. When you are older you might deal with more stress or more health issues and therefore at least want your freaking drink to be the right temperature.

When I say I older I don't mean 65+ necessarily. I'm in my forties and definitely prefer my tea hotter now and don't like it once it's cold.

45 yo and if I don't end up with a skin graft, it's not worth drinking.
I hate paying £4 for a latte that was already cold yesterday.