What's the best way to reheat coffee?

[ipsedixit]

Is there one?

Of course coffee is best enjoyed freshly brewed, but what do you do (if anything) to freshen up a cup of coffee if it's been left to sit around a bit too long?

Microwave?

Double boiler?

Something else?

[scuzzo]

I think any reheated coffee loses a lot. A thermos can keep it good for a longer time. Better in a thermos than in the pot on the burner. I do like to refrigerate leftover coffee though.

Heat and time are the enemies of coffee.

[dolores]

A minute 30 seconds, nuked, for a cup of day old coffee. With toast made the night before. I have no time or patience to wait for fresh coffee or the toaster. Why 'haven't' they speeded up the toaster, by the way?

[yaddayadda]

The only way to (possibly) revive coffee that's been sitting around, is if it has been off the burner while sitting around, and has been sitting in a sealed, or semi-sealed carafe. In that case, you just nuke for 30-50 sec and you should be good to go.

If it has been left warming on the hot-tray, it has already overcooked and/or evaporated to the gross-out point. Alternatively, if has been left to simply cool in a cup, it's likely just evaporated too much.

Of course, the best thing to do is make another cup or small pot. Coffee is one of the least-expensive (per cup) indulgences out there, and worth doing right.

[Whosyerkitty]

I make it into iced coffee too. Throw a bit of Chambord in there and you won't even know how bad it is.

[yaddayadda]

Is there anything liquor can't make any better?

[embee]

If you refrigerate it, covered with a plastic wrap seal, while it is still hot, you can nuke it for 1-2 minutes and probably find it okay to drink for many hours.

If it has been sitting on the counter cooling for more than 15-30 minutes, it will be hopeless. The better/more complex the quality of the original coffee, the shorter the window. If you often find yourself in this situation, pour it immediately into a warm thermos to hold it.

You can't revive coffee that has already died.

[Will Owen]

Since I still make mine in a Chemex pot, I adhere to the process I was taught shortly after we invented fire: put the pot into a pan it'll fit easily, then fill the pan with water just to the coffee level. Put this on the stove and bring just to a gentle boil. The coffee will not taste perfectly fresh, but will have less of an off-taste than you get from any other method. Microwaving is next-best.

[al b. darned]

AACKKK! There is NO good way to reheat coffee. Reheated coffee is nasty and best dumped down the drain. Sorry for the tantrum, but I can't stand cold or reheated coffee.

[cstr]

I use left over for iced coffee, can't stand re-heating.

[MikeG]

Ditto, or carefully on the stove. I have no idea why, especially since I don't have an especially sensitive palate, but nuked coffee (black, even) has always tasted funny to me. Gently re-heated on the stove, it just tastes re-heated, not "messed up."

[Kelli2006]

I nuke cold coffee on high for 1 minute per cupful.

I usually pour the just brewed coffee into a insulated carafe that I can pour from all day at the perfect temperature.

[RedHowler]

I find that I can rehabilitate a ceramic mug o' joe with a couple of minutes in the nucleator, being careful to avoid bringing to a boil. Since I take my coffee black, no sugar (as the good Lord clearly intended) no worries about long-chain milk proteins turning to muck.