Why You Should Wait Until the Coffee Is Completely Finished Before Pouring a Cup
If you are using an automatic drip coffee machine, you might be tempted to place your mug directly under the freshly brewed water to grab the cup before the pot is actually full – this might sound like a life hack! But it turns out your coffee will be better if you wait.
The reason you shouldn’t try to grab a cup while the coffee is still brewing is because the concentration of the coffee changes as it brews. That is, it starts very strongly, but gradually weakens. The Cooks Illustrated team scientifically tested their coffee and actually measured the concentration of the coffee when it was brewed :
“As we suspected, the coffee coming out of the spout at the start of brewing was significantly stronger than the last few drops: 3.93 parts per million (ppm) versus 0.44 ppm, or more than eight times more concentrated. It was also more than twice as strong as coffee from a fully brewed pot (1.54ppm). “
While this means that the initial spout of coffee will be very strong, if you steal a full mug, you will also spoil the resulting batch by leaving the weakest coffee in the pot. Well, “ruin” if weak coffee is considered useless. You will get the best balance if you just wait until the whole pot is ready. Sure, there are tons of other simple brewing methods to try if you’re a java perfectionist, but nothing beats the simple appeal of automatic coffee.
Why you should wait for brewed coffee | Chefs illustrated with Wirecutter