To ask if you know anyone over 60 who doesn't insist on their coffee being hotter than the sun

[Pavementworrier]

I know this is a crass generalisation but I actually don't
.

I do this. I think it may be an old habit to avoid the dregs when drinking tea made from loose leaves.

Maybe the op’s parents look blank because they are wondering why their child is taking upon themselves to explain how the way they drink THEIR cup of coffee is wrong…….

Am 64 - liberal, rent ( but a lovely house) don’t read the daily mail but nor am I to quote Trump , lefty scum ! ( the bloke is off his head) and I have never once asked for a coffee or tea - extra hot -

Yes me.. you’re being ridiculous

I put ice cubes in my coffee and soup to cool it down. I hate really hot drinks. I am over 60.

I’m over 60 I don’t like it too hot. DH does, he can’t pick up hot food but will eat it.

Could be! Thinking, well, we're tolerant and liberal minded, shame about her! .....😂

Fortunately for me they have a sense of humour unlike many Mumsnet users

Good! It's important to have a laugh, like I'm doing at some of the more preposterous posts!
I like the idea of the comprehending "blank stares" because never in their lives they've met anyone who favours food and beverages at different temperatures! 😂😂

Fortunately for me they have a sense of humour unlike many Mumsnet users
used to have an elderly relative who’d make (mildly) offensive comments, when called out they’d say ‘But I was just joking’ or ‘Can’t you take a joke?’
Is that you @Pavementworrier ?

I am sure this is not the first time in you're life you've felt confused about nuance

Gosh, from your swift reply it looks like you were offended.
Can you take a joke ol’ girl?

I find that older people tend to freak out a lot when I have a hot drink "near" my toddler, and I think it's because their version of a hot tea would scald him to the bone, whilst the tea I have let cool for 10m (and is way out of his reach) would maybe give him a little red skin.

(I'm not minimising the safety thing here, it's just not the dire event they're imagining.)

I’m sure your parents are profoundly grateful for a child to tell them how to drink coffee. Do you also tell them how to use a knife and fork?

I’m a coffee snob. I drink it black. I hate medium/lukewarm coffee which almost invariably means it was either brewed at the wrong temperature or has been left standing for too long. I also drink different types of tea, each of which has its own optimal temperature for brewing which is not “drinking temperature".

If you enjoy tea and coffee left standing or brewed at the wrong temperature you are completely free to so do - I would not be so crassly rude as to tell you that you should follow my preferred approach to the taste.

Then I would have thought that you’d understand about stereotyping.

I used to be very particular about food and drink being hot, but then I had 3 kids and never finished a drink in under 2 hours, so got used to them being anywhere from tepid to ice cold and became very flexible.

OP, surely it has to do with people who grew up drinking instant coffee made with boiling water vs people whose first experiences with coffee were espresso based drinks? If you're doing those right, brew temp should be mid-90s, depending on the roast.

We are having lunch out today. From a food court and actually outside. I love that my food will cool down to an edible temperature so much quicker than in the summer.

Mid 60s here and I let tea and coffee cool down before I drink

God how fucking patronising. Do you really think your parents are stupid? If I were your parents, I’d tell you to cop on to yourself and leave me to drink my coffee how I like it.

No they don't.

I've stood in many a queue at coffee shops and never heard anyone ahead of me ask for extra hot! Never mind 95% of them!

Aha! But there you are wrong! 😈
I’m 70, with two cats, laughing all day long, (generally at serious newspapers), and have never thought twice about the temperature of my coffee.
It gets drunk as soon as it’s ready, and always black, meaning pretty damn hot. But actually buggering about making a hot drink cooler or zapping it hotter hasn’t ever arisen, or not since childhood)

(Tepid food is a bit much, and I’d set fire to any diner opposite me who held up our eating by having a photoshoot.)

I’m sorry you got that response. I think it’s just some leftover bitterness about the OP’s posts, including the start and title of this thread, feeling a bit ageist (as many have pointed out, yes, they like drinking lava, but they have always drunk lava - kind of like “We Have Always Lived in The Castle” but less gothic and with more coffee). I think it’s wonderful that you volunteer at Age UK, as more than others, people in care homes or who have children and spouses predeceasing them can get lonely and depressed (I mean, how would any of us feel if we could no longer live independently AND everyone we knew was dying or dead???). And in fact, untreated depression is believed to contribute to death in care homes, and up to 40% of residents have it. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK260567/#:~:text=Untreated%20depression%20is%20a%20major,27

So, I actually do think it’s great you’re taking your 95-year-old friend for an outing; it sounds like a lovely time and I’m sure you gain just as much by being her friend as she gains by being yours ♥️

I certainly am. What nuance are you referring to?

It was. I laughed. I'm suprised that it whooshed over so many heads!

Totally off topic but @LongDarkTeatime - is your name a reference to The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul? It’s one of my favorite books. I still use that book’s “zen method of navigation” occasionally - finding a car that looks like it knows where it’s going and following it.