I don't have a kettle, so I use a cooking pot at home to boil water. I boil water on high in the cooking pot and as soon as I see the big bubbles/steam forming, I assume the water has reached 100° C. Is that correct?
If the water has reached 100° C and I let it settle off the stove for 1 min, what's the average temperature of the water after that period of time?
EDIT
I'm trying to make some coffee from my french press and from what I've read, people recommend to wait 1 min before pouring the hot water in the press. I'm not getting a lot of coffee flavour from the french press after letting it infuse for 5 min. I was curious to know if the temperature of the hot water can drop a lot in 1 min.
Best Answer
As long as you are talking about a normal pot with or without a normal lid (i.e. not a pressure cooker) and you are reasonably close to sea level, you're right, boiling water is at 100°C. However, if you start to climb in altitude, that is no longer the case, at 300m, water boils at 99°C, at 600m, 98°C and so on. Wikipedia has a page with information about High altitude cooking that contains a reference table.