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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Amid a heat emergency in place for Boston and surrounding communities, the age-old debate on what drinking temperature is best for coffee has come to a boiling point.
WBZ's Shari Small stopped by a Dunkin' location in Lynn, and spoke to Jackie, an employee who said the coffee popularity during Monday's high heat has teetered to one side of the scale.
"It's mostly been iced today because of the weather," Jackie said. Not everyone agreed with the masses though, as some locals made a case for beverages on the other side of the thermometer.
"Hot— it raises your internal body temperature, so it doesn't feel as hot," said one coffee customer. That assertion has some scientific backing from experts, as human thermoregulation expert at the University of Sydney Doctor Christopher Gordon told the DW that drinking hot beverages or eating spicy foods raises a person's internal core body temperature. This comes with an asterisk, because the added heat stimulates the brain to produce more sweat, which is the cause for the body's overall cooldown.
In other words, hot coffee drinkers may be cooler off, but it comes at the cost of perspiration and the need for more hydration.
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But hardcore iced coffee drinkers weren't backing down, asserting that the cold caffeine is the standard for Boston even in the freezing winter.
"I drink iced coffee all year-round, I wouldn't have hot coffee today, no," another customer said. Meanwhile the hot coffee movement fired back with similar comments.
"Hot [coffee] all day, all night. I probably have seven coffees a day— maybe one iced coffee in the year, usually in December because you can put it in the snowbank, and it'll stay cold. That's the only time," a Massachusetts resident said.
WBZ's Shari Small (@ShariSmallNews) reports.
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