In article t,
Richard Lamb wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:
On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 16:27:46 -0500, Joseph Gwinn
wrote:


There were a number of postings on the tort suit McDonalds lost because
their coffee was too hot, at 180 degrees F, scalding a woman who tried
to hold the cup between her legs in the car.

We just got a brand new Krups coffeemaker, and I got curious, and
measured the coffee temperature. It's 180 degrees F, just like the
coffee books recommend.

Think someone will sue Krups?

Joe Gwinn


You probably don't serve it in styrofoam cups -- at least I hope you
don't. Just pouring it into a non-preheated mug will chill it well
below 180. You probably also don't use snap-top lids.

Right. No styrofoam at home. I'll have to measure the temp just after
pouring, for curiosity.

At work, we have paper cups, and these are too hot to carry. So, I
double-cup them if I will carry coffee in hand. If I'm staying in the
cafeteria I put some ice in the cup before pouring, and carry it on the
tray, so it'll be right for immediate consumption.

As I said before, if I did anything, it would be to improve the cups.

Or give people their choice. This is the key issue. Do we deprive a
hundred million people because one in ten million cannot handle such a
choice?


I make tea in the microwave for that reason. The water in my mug is
boiling when I take it out of the nuke and drop in the tea infuser --
which has very little thermal mass.

Well, ok for tea, I suppose, but I really dislike microwaved coffee...

My wife, the tea drinker, doesn't like microwave-heated water for tea
either. She boils the water in a teakettle on the stove.

And I know at least one exiled Englishman that has a real 220-volt
teakettle, for which he had a special UK 220 volt outlet installed in
the kitchen. I recall that they work something like three times faster
than 110 volts.

Joe Gwinn