Brewed coffee can stay out for at least a half-hour without losing its flavor. However, leaving coffee for more than an hour will make it taste off with an unpleasant bitterness and fragrance due to the loss of aromatic compounds.
Plain black brewed coffee stays for more than 24 hours and is entirely safe to drink. However, you will lose the classic flavor of the coffee.
After two hours, you should discard hot coffee with dairy additives such as cream, almond milk, or even plain milk.
The cold brews can stay for more than 14 days. You can store a batch of cold brew coffee in your refrigerator for 10 to 14 days. However, drinking old coffee may deprive you of its delicate flavors.
This article will look at if coffee is safe to drink if it is left out overnight, if you can become sick from drinking old coffee, and what happens if you leave coffee sitting out too long.
Can You Drink Coffee Left Out Overnight?
You can drink simple black coffee left out overnight as it remains for more than 24 hours after brewing, so it is safe for consumption, but you will lose its original taste to an extent.
And if you are adding cream or milk in black coffee, it will not remain normal after one to two hours. You can store your black coffee in the fridge for up to two weeks, and its flavor changes depending on the container you are using.
Milked coffee, if left overnight, will be spoiled due to the oxidation process in brewed coffee.
To increase the lifespan of your coffee, you need to put it in an airtight container so that no oxidative process takes place and keep its flavor regular.
Sometimes you make coffee and put it aside and go to perform some essential tasks, and when you come back from your job and drink coffee, it is more bitter, but by doing a cunning trick, you can reduce bitterness by adding a pinch of salt to it.
The milk in the coffee gets spoiled after two hours. If you want to consume coffee after some time of its preparation, preserve it under 40°F.
Can You Get Sick From Drinking Old coffee?
Old black coffee does not make you sick. However, drinking old coffee may go wrong for a few people, giving them muscle aches, stomach cramps, and weird jitters. If drinking old coffee does agree with your body, it may result in diarrhea and sickness.
The stomach cramps occur after drinking coffee with dairy additives. Dairy products have bacteria or mold that sometimes do not die during boiling.
If your coffee is not stored correctly, it may go rancid.
Can You Put Coffee in the Fridge?
You can keep brewed iced coffee in the fridge for a long time. Then, after brewing, put it in the refrigerator for about 12 to 15 days.
Cold-brewed coffee stays in the fridge for a longer duration of time as compared to other coffee types. Similarly, cold brew has a better-preserved flavor than different coffee types because it has 67% less acid than hot brewed coffee.
What Happens If You Leave Coffee Sitting Out?
If you leave coffee sitting out for an extended period, it will start to spoil. You can tell if your coffee has gone bad based on the aroma and flavor, milk present, if the coffee oils have gone rancid, or mold present.
How Do Aroma and Flavor Indicate if Your Coffee has been Left Out Too Long?
Coffee can retain its flavor for about only thirty minutes after brewing. If you leave coffee sitting out for too long, the taste of coffee deteriorates.
This is due to a chemical reaction called oxidation. It is a common reaction in which electrons transfer from one molecule to another.
Coffee’s flavor is made up of aromatic organic compounds that evaporate quickly. When they contact oxygen, they oxidize, causing the taste to lose potency. Because of this, cold-brewed coffee retains its flavor for a more extended period than hot brewed coffee.
Freshly brewed coffee takes about thirty minutes to cool down. During this time, it loses most of its flavor and aroma.
If you keep coffee in the fridge, it somewhat lowers the rate of coffee losing flavor. Furthermore, oxidation brings harsh bitterness to the coffee.
How Does Milk Indicate if Your Coffee has been Left Out Too Long?
Milk present in the coffee spoils in two hours. Therefore, milk is safe to consume within a specific temperature range, but it may not be safe to consume if it is outside of this range for longer than two hours.
Temperature ranging between 4.4 to 60 degrees Celsius is considered a “danger zone” for potentially hazardous foods such as milk, eggs, or meat. This is because, at higher temperatures, bacteria present in milk start multiplying rapidly, which may cause gastrointestinal disorders.
How Do Coffee Oils Indicate if Your Coffee has been Left Out Too Long?
Rancidification of coffee oils – Rancidity occurs due to the interaction between coffee oils and oxygen. It is an oxidation reaction that gives an unpleasant flavor to the coffee.
This reaction also produces free radicals, which can cause oxidative stress, affecting human health in many ways.
How Does Mold Indicate if Your Coffee has been Left Out Too Long?
If you leave coffee sitting out, it starts to grow mold. Mold usually grows after leaving coffee for four to seven days at room temperature. Several kinds of Bacteria such as Pseudomonas also start growing in the coffee that can affect the quality of coffee by degrading the caffeine.
What are Proper Coffee Safety Measures To Make Sure Coffee Is Safe To Drink?
Here are some safety measures that ensure the safety of coffee drinks:
- Store your coffee in an opaque, airtight container to limit oxidation reaction that keeps flavor in your coffee for an extended period.
- Let your coffee sit below 4.4 degrees Celsius by keeping it in the fridge. This prevents the growth of harmful bacteria. However, if you keep it in the refrigerator, it is likely to pick the flavor of other food items present in the fridge. To prevent this, keep it in a container that is well sealed.
- Clean your coffee maker and container regularly. It prevents the growth of Pseudomonas bacteria.
- Use vacuum-insulated thermal mugs to keep your coffee warm for an extended period. However, reheating loses the coffee’s aroma.
Hi, I’m Jen Williams, chief editor and writer for ThirstPerk.com.
I’ve been drinking coffee and tea for most of my life, but it wasn’t until I started working at Thirstperk.com that I became an expert on the subject. I’m a total caffeine addict who has spent hours upon hours reading about and experimenting with the different types of coffees out there in my search to find the perfect cup of joe.
I’ve been a tea lover for as long as I can remember as well. I grew up in a house with a mom who loved to drink herbal tea, and I think that’s where my love for tea first began. These days, I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting teas to try, and I love experimenting with different brewing methods and flavoring combinations.