Coffee – How long is coffee with creamer added safe in a thermos

coffeedairyfood-safety

I'm not sure if this or this questions' answers satisfactorily cover my question but I am seeing a lot of answers that talk about the shelf-life of coffee and say things just "change" when adding sugar or dairy.

I make about 20oz. of coffee each morning and put it in a thermos. I then add my creamer to this at home and take it to work. Most days I get through it within a couple hours of being there, but some days I don't go through the whole container and the coffee is still pretty hot by the time I get home (go thermos!). I understand that if it was plain this should be fine, but does the dairy creamer break down over the day to the point I shouldn't be consuming it by the time I get home (about 9 hours after brew time) given it has been kept pretty hot most of the day ?

If I should be tossing this sooner by a certain time when is that? Does keeping it hot prolong life beyond the 2-4 hours in the danger zone I am seeing on other posts?

Best Answer

The clock on the danger zone starts when the food temperature drops below 60 celsius. It should be 4 hours for coffee - two hours are for meat, where it is assumed that bacteria in it have had some chance to grow while it was being butchered, transported, and stored in a supermarket. In coffee and creamer, there will be no bacteria growth at all in the ingredients, it will start after you have brewed the drink and mixed in the creamer, and the temperature has fallen below 60.

If you want to go by the book, measure the temperature of the coffee inside the thermos 5 hours after brewing. If it is above 60 Celsius, then it is still safe up to 9 hours after brewing. Do it on several days to have a significant result.

(For those of us on my side of the pond, that's 140 degrees Fahrenheit. )