Dispensing and serving temperatures of coffee-based hot beverages. Exploratory survey as a basis for cancer risk assessment

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has evaluated drinks that are consumed “very hot” (> 65 °C) as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to obtain an initial insight into the dispensing and serving temperatures of coffee-based hot beverages in the home and in the food service industry. Overall, the study recorded the serving temperatures of 356 coffees in the food service industry and the dispensing temperatures of 110 coffees in private households. The measured temperatures were on average 10 °C above the IARC threshold temperature both in the household and in the food service industry (mean value of all measurements: 75 °C, standard deviation: 5 °C). Furthermore, the cooling period, both with and without the addition of milk, should be taken into account. As a rule, a minimum cooling time of > 10 min or the addition of > 20 mL of cold milk is sufficient to cool coffee to temperatures < 65 °C. Generally speaking, from this study, it can be concluded that the recommendation should be to cool hot beverages before drinking in most cases, either by observing a waiting period or by adding milk.