Depending on how chilled or warm a drink is, its taste can vary. Temperature can affect flavours and aromatics, and this infographic lays out the ideal serving temperatures for beer, tea, wine, coffee, and more.
We’ve covered wine before, and this goes into a little more detail. The graphic is based on a handful of articles and expert info, cited at the bottom of the image. Fruity red wines, it points out, should be served at 10°-15°C, which is recommended over at Wine Spectator:
- Full-bodied white wines and light, fruity reds: Serve at 50° to 60° F to pick up more of the complexity and aromatics of a rich Chardonnay or to make a fruity Beaujolais more refreshing.
- Full-bodied red wines and Ports: Serve at 60° to 65° F — cooler than most room temperatures and warmer than ideal cellaring temperatures — to make the tannins in powerful Cabernet or Syrah feel more supple and de-emphasise bitter components
Also, it uses Celsius, so if you use Fahrenheit, keep this in mind for reference: 0° C = 32° F and 50° C = 122° F. Check it out for yourself below.
The perfect temperatures for beer, wine and beverages [GB Energy Supply]
Comments
6 responses to “The Ideal Temperature for Beer, Coffee And Other Beverages”
The Ideal Temperature is certainly up to the individual.
Beer at about 2 degrees, red wine around 10 degrees is the preference range for me.
All coffee and teas should be really hot and throw away the instant and boutique coffee.
No it isn’t. The temperatures above are chosen based on science. Your taste may differ, but it may not match the ideal temperature for that beverage.
The Ideal Temperature is certainly up to the individual.
Yes it is, due to the fact some people will not even touch it if it is not right for them and that does not mean it is not ideal. In most cases the science is based on an individual or group taste and scientists know less about it than seeing or hearing..
I agree. We can never know what the experience of taste feels like in other people’s minds – it is one example of qualia. The taste of an object isn’t an inherent property of the physical world, just the way our minds interpret this world we live in. So how can science, which is concerned with the physical, dictate there to be an ‘ideal’ taste? Except with maybe an evolutionary argument, i.e. if you like the taste of poison maybe that could be justified as suboptimal when viewed from the angle that the purpose of a sense or feeling to keep you alive and pass on your genes. It is like colour, science can analyse the various wavelengths and amplitudes of the light itself but it can say that one person’s experience of the colour yellow is more correct than another’s.
A coffee place in my town makes a killing selling lukewarm coffee (Heresy IMO). According to the owner this is the optimal temperature…namely so you drink it fast and order another.
Personally I like it just a little bit too hot so I can savour the time enjoying it.
Sorry guys, I think science wins over individual taste.
Whilst there may be individuals that set the bar for a taste or temp, these are professional people with palettes more attuned and experienced than most could imagine. The tongue responds differently to flavours at different temps, sweetness for example, and different things taste different at different temps. E.g. beer or desert wine. So when companies are making things like coffee or beer they are getting the experts in and, regardless of what we think but generallyin line with, set the standard of flavour at the desired temp. Sure, this is the equivalent of audiophile stuff for your tongue but just because we like something different or disagree doesn’t make them wrong and us right. We just can’t tell the difference or are basing our preference on something else like mouth feel verses taste.
Read ‘blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell and a chapter on tasters
I always wonder about the whole thing with boiling water for tea and coffee. Does anybody actually drink these beverages before they cool down? If so, how frequently do you need medical attention for the scalding to your mouth and throat?
As for beer, the downside to serving warm beer is supposed to be “unwanted aromas” but lukewarm beer is popular in the UK, and supposedly this helps in appreciating the taste as cold beverages suppress flavour to some degree. Perhaps it depends on the beer; by all accounts, suppressing the flavour of American beers is fundamentally a good thing.
It leaves me wondering how much of the chart is basically cultural rather than scientific in origin.
Personally I don’t drink tea, coffee, beer or wine so I’m not in a position to judge, but I do find most hot drinks are undrinkable until they have cooled down somewhat.