What’s the Deal with Water Temperature?

Yes, your kettle might be lying to you

Most kettles boil water to 100°C, then you pour it straight onto your coffee. Sounds normal, right? Problem is — that’s often too hot. Especially for filter coffee. You end up burning the grounds, and that gives you bitterness instead of flavour.

The magic number is 92–96°C

This is the sweet spot for most brewing methods. Hot enough to extract all the good stuff, but not so hot that you kill the delicate notes. If you’re using a gooseneck kettle with temperature control — great. If not, just let the water sit for 30–40 seconds after boiling. That usually brings it down to the right range.

Espresso machines sort this for you

Most decent espresso machines handle temperature automatically, but even then — you should let them warm up properly. If the group head or portafilter is still cold, your shot’s gonna suffer. Let everything heat up and stay stable.

Cold brew? Totally different game

Just to be clear — cold brew doesn’t care about water temp. You’re steeping the coffee slowly in cold water over 12–18 hours. No need to overthink it. But for everything else — temperature matters more than people realise.

Bottom line: if your coffee tastes a bit off, try adjusting the water temp. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.