Can You Put Hot Coffee in The Fridge?

It’s always better to brew your coffee every time you fancy a nice cup of joe, but the truth is, it sometimes gets boring to brew all the time. Can you do what many people do about their weekly meals: cook at the weekend for the week ahead and keep them in the fridge? So, can you put hot coffee in the fridge? Let’s go over this interesting topic and learn more about how to go about it and more. 

Can you actually put hot coffee in the fridge? 

Yep, it’s absolutely fine to put hot coffee in the fridge, but it’s wise to pour it into a container suitable for chilling food in a smooth way. It’s also key to placing your hot coffee container relatively away from other foods to avoid spoiling them.

The right way of refrigerating hot coffee

Let’s go over five things that you need to keep in mind in order to make the most out of your refrigerated coffee.

Use the right container for putting hot coffee in the fridge

Here’s a bunch of aspects I’d personally take into account before going ahead with my coffee container purchase: 

• Why not go for a container that changes temperature fast, so your coffee cools down quickly? 

• It’s a great idea to opt for a container that’s inert and your hot coffee doesn’t pass plastic or chemicals to the coffee.

• A container that probably doesn’t take up too much space in the fridge or even its shape makes it easy to keep somewhere in the fridge. But this also depends on how much coffee you want to brew and pop in the fridge each time. 

• Another thing to consider is that hot coffee releases compounds and it’s not good if it mixes up with other food odours in your fridge, as the odds are that your fridge will get an unpleasant smell. So, going for a container with a lit that fits tightly is vital.

• Price is another aspect to consider, as you probably don’t need to spend big on a container for your hot coffee. 

Stainless steel is probably a good option as it ticks all the boxes. Using plastic or ceramic containers isn’t probably the best option. 

Keep your container away from other foods

Picture this: 

you bought some expensive French cheese and can’t wait to have it paired with grapes and fancy bread and other nibbles and you’re planning to invite friends or family around. But you realise that you left the container with hot coffee right next to the cheese. Yes, the cheese is melted now and it’s all over the place. Unfortunately, you need to call off the party.

The moral of the story? 

Don’t put a hot container right next to other foods; they’re going to get spoiled.

Put your container with hot coffee in the back of the fridge

The temperature of a fridge goes up when we keep the door open for some time and in this case the cold air sinks, making the lowest shelves the coolest. But for fridges with an ice-making feature, the coldest shelves are on the top of the fridge. 

On the other hand, the inside of the door is the warmest part of most fridges, so it’s wise to avoid this option. 

Precooling your hot coffee before putting it in the fridge 

Let’s go over a couple of different methods to go about it:

• One of the most effective ways is to put your container in your refrigerator or even in the freezer for a few hours before brewing coffee, so when you pour the coffee in, it will go cold in no time. As mentioned earlier, it’s vital to go for a container suitable for this task (stainless steel is a safe bet). 
• Another way to cool down your container fast is to cover your container with wet kitchen roll and put it in the fridge. It will get cold faster.
• Did you know that one of the fastest ways to cool down your tea or any hot brew is to place a spoon in it? High temperature is transferred to the spoon, making your brew cool down. Why not put a couple of them in your hot coffee? 
• Another way to go about it is the same way you cool down a glass before pouring wine into it. If putting icecubes and jiggling the glass was what you thought you guessed it right. Simply put a handful of ice cubes in the container, put the top on and shake it for a few minutes and just pour the ice cubes in the sink. 

Use more than one container for your hot coffee 

Placing a large amount of coffee (equal to one carafe or more) in one container isn’t the best way to go about it. By the time you’ll have used half of it, the odds are that the other half would have been spoiled; you’ll be taking each out of the fridge for each cup which isn’t the best practice. Based on the food guidelines of USDA, it’s better to divide large amounts of food or drink into small portions by using different containers. 

It’s probably a better idea to put enough coffee in a container for one or two cups; every cup you’ll have will taste much better. 

Let’s wrap it up

Since you know now whether to put hot coffee in the fridge and how to go about it, it’s time to brew some great coffee.