Giantaxe

I also thought the McDonald's story was a joke until I read more about the case a few years ago.

You shouldn't use boiling water to brew coffee anyway. The Italians - who know a thing or two about good coffee - seem to think 190 to 200F is about right. Others think as low as 175F works best.

scrubbedexpat099

Depends where you live, Boiling point for me is 194F.

Giantaxe

Good point!

I guess we're talking sea level.

robin1234

I think if you used water at 175F the coffee would be unacceptably cool by the time you drank it? I’ve thought about this admonition - that boiling water degrades the flavour of the coffee - and rationalized it by assuming that the electric kettle clicks off, I lift it and pour it over the freshly ground coffee in the filter - surely by pouring through the air between kettle and coffee, the water loses a few degrees in heat? (In the winter my kitchen air temp is about 52 degrees at the time I make coffee..)

Hiro11

This is absolutely true and something people have forgotten about when talking about this very famous lawsuit. McDonald's coffee used to be RIDICULOUSLY, blisteringly, undrinkably hot. It was something that made absolutely no sense as it made the coffee taste worse as well. They also filled the cup absolutely to the brim and then handed these nuclear-hot bombs to people to hold in their laps while they drove around. This woman was seriously injured by this coffee. I'm not saying she should have won any money or even that she should have won the case, but it was hardly a frivolous lawsuit. McDonald's stopped doing this so people don't now understand what it was like.

Leslie

No, McDonald's never gave a good reason.

I think the whole thing was down to a lack of imagination. When I worked at the cafe, we would serve boiling hot coffee but it was in cups and saucers and immediately started cooling down, especially if somebody added milk or cream. The old timers would intentionally slosh the hot coffee into the saucer and sup that until the coffee cooled enough to drink from the cup. You served it scalding, otherwise it would be cold before they got to the bottom of the cup. Also, we would go around topping off the cups with the hot stuff which would instantly cool somewhat when added to the cooler coffee already in the cup. This is how coffee was served at home and in restaurants for most of the 20th century. Basically, Americans liked their crappy coffee extremely hot. McDonald's just didn't adjust for the modern delivery system --- styrofoam cups with lids, which prevented the natural cooling.



I think it's 'just off the boil' then it will still be cool enough by the time it gets to your table.


I once inadvertently sprayed my hair with room freshener thinking I had grabbed the hairspray. Shit happens --- why people feel the need to post their every move (no matter how stupid) on social media is something I never will understand.

BristolUK

I do my mother in law's eye drops for her twice a day. I dread picking up similar looking nail glue.

Jerseygirl

When my daughter was at uni, I received a call from the ER, she had accidentally squirted nail glue in her eye. Don’t know if that is the reason her cornea is too thin for laser eye surgery.

Tarkak9

I think it turned out that the actual restaurant had made the coffee higher temperature than their brewing temperature range (whether by 'human error' or faulty machine). I think it surfaced that they have 'extreme' temperatures to take into account the morning commuter ..... so that their coffee still remains warm/hot by the time they arrive at work and its still drinkable etc. Mickey D's do soo much reaearch about everything and their products, right down to average commute times, colour schemes and comfort of their furniture.


Ahhhhh, Linen fresh scent!!





Leslie

McDonald's tried to justify the heat by saying that people would drive all the way to their destination before drinking the coffee, therefore the coffee had to be that hot. But, it came to light that McDonald's had already done plenty of their own research (as you say, they research everything) and it was well known that people wanted to start drinking the coffee immediately. So, basically they were just lying about that.

Tarkak9

Yeah, probably were lying as means of deflection. I think as part of settlement they had to reduce their brewing temperatures.

scrubbedexpat091

I superglued my eye lid shut once. Doctor used acetone and a q-tip, at least I think it was acetone, smelled like it anyhow and I know acetone removes super glue when you glue your fingers together on accident, which I have done on multiple occasions in my life.

Steerpike

Which means, the mystery of 'why' remains totally unsolved! If they research everything (which I'm sure do), and knew people would prefer to drink the beverage right away, then what possessed them to serve it so hot - very strange. Maybe they'd invested in hundreds of thousands of a certain type of machine to produce the beverage, and there was no adjustment to be made so they had to just stick with what they had until those items wore out ... or no-one made a machine that behaved any differently.

I remember now (brings back happy memories!) ... I had a 1 hour commute from San Francisco to Palo Alto in my first ever job in the US in the 80s. I hated mornings (then and now ...) and didn't make myself breakfast; I would visit the nearest McD's on my route and get an Egg McMuffin and a coffee; possibly even 2 coffees! First thing I would do after picking up at the drive thru window was pour 1/4 of it out through the window, then pile in a ton of those mini milk capsules ... it was probably still warm on arrival in Palo Alto.

scrubbedexpat099

I have heard of people complaining about cold food and presumably drinks, not about too hot.

Somebody probably noticed they had issues and went overboard to solve the too cold aspect.

Steerpike

You call it 'the cafe', but wouldn't you also call it the 'coffee shop' back then? Today, 'coffee shop' could be misconstrued as a Starbucks, but back then, 'coffee shop' was a full-blown breakfast restaurant, was it not? I used to have lots of visitors from the UK (family and friends) and I always made a point of taking them to the various coffee shops for breakfast. I developed a love for corned beef hash, hash browns, eggs 'easy over', and of course, the endless coffee. My visitors couldn't get over the endless coffee. It became a joke that you couldn't stop the waitress (it was always a woman!) from sneaking in a refill, even when you really didn't want one! (I think there's a scene in a movie about that ...). I would get the coffee, milk and sugar ratio just right then I'd turn my head and the next thing I knew, the phantom server had whisked in and filled up my cup! I still adore finding a good, old-fashioned 'coffee shop' with vinyl covered seats and cozy booths. I personally prefer sitting at the counter. We often go to one either Thanksgiving or Christmas day, for some reason.

I also just remembered ... my car back in those days (a '77 Honda Accord) didn't have cup holders! I had to buy some accessory that hung over the inside-door trim in order to hold my cup! So that probably contributed to the downfall of that poor woman who filed the lawsuit! I think some European car makers still frown at the notion of a cup holder, and perhaps reluctantly install them in their US models only ...