On old coffee

If I leave coffee in the coffee-maker for two days and forget about it, can I drink the coffee on day three or has it “gone bad”?

I drink three day old coffee all of the time. It happens like this: I arrive at the office on Monday morning and bolt for the coffee machine. I  decant a mug of room temperature coffee and think, “Man, someone got started early this morning.” As I walk around the empty office trying to figure out who brewed coffee at 6am on a Monday, I realize that I am the only person at the office and that I am in fact drinking Friday’s coffee. Then I return to the coffee machine, and pour myself a second cup.

Coffee is an extremely safe beverage to consume because the act of preparing it — pouring boiling water on the grounds — sanitizes the coffee grounds as well as the vessel that it is being poured into. 

The FDA has a special category for foods like coffee and tea whose preparation inherently eliminates the major causes of food poisoning. Basically, the FDA lets these companies slack off on their food safety measures because they know you, the consumer, are gonna take care of it for them. Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say your teabag was assembled by a pair of dirty hands at the plant. It wouldn’t even matter because the boiling water you pour on it will instantly kill any bacteria and render it safe to eat. Pretty cool right?

So, your old coffee. You can be fairly certain that your coffee machine is clean because it gets routinely sanitized with boiling water. And the coffee started out clean because it was boiling. How could it have “gone bad?”

Here’s how I think about it:

In order for the coffee to “go bad” it would have been contaminated by some sort of bacteria between when it was brewed and day 3. This is unlikely if the coffee was covered with a lid.

 Even if the right bacteria were somehow introduced, it would need to reproduce prolifically before making you sick . But here’s the thing about coffee — it’s not very nutritious. This means a standard cup of black joe wouldn’t have the nutrients in it to support rapid bacteria growth.

If your coffee is truly infested with bacteria then will probably look and smell different. 

No visible alien activity? Then your coffee is fine to drink. 

Lastly, If you wanna be extra careful then just reheat it until it’s piping hot.  This will not only sanitize your java but it might also revive some flavor.

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