"Sawney Beane" wrote in message
...

Did you calibrate it? In preparation for such measurements, I put
a thermocouple into a pan of boiling water and got 217 F.


If I were going to measure the temperature of a drip coffee maker,
I'd put my probe into the grounds and close it up. With the
machine open, I imagine a small stream of very hot water will lose
heat very fast from evaporation and radiation.

With a French press, I imagine the water could cool below 200F as
it's poured into the brewing cup. Then the cup probably absorbs
significant heat from the water. I wonder how important it is. I
wonder if a longer brewing time can compensate for a lower
temperature.

In a pot of rapidly boiling water at 212' above sea level the reading was
dead on at 212º. I placed the probe in the stream (tricky to do) for about a
minute. There weren't any grounds in the basket to measure, but as the water
temp can't be controlled anyhow, it seemed useless to check them had they
been there. In a French press the water going in is at 212º, and after the
press the brew was at 188º. The coffee was great, and that's the bottom
line!