Many individuals love to use one specific mug for drinking their hot coffee. However, you notice that many coffee shops serve such drinks as a cappuccino or latte in glass cups.
So, does this mean you could switch to glass coffee mugs at home, or are these drinks cooler than the steaming hot coffee you drink at home or work?
In our guide, you can learn more about drinking coffee in glass cups or glass coffee mugs. In addition, you’ll find different types of glass that can deal with heat, such as borosilicate glass which they use to make glass oven-safe dishes.
By the end, you’ll learn more about, is it safe to use glass cups for hot beverages? You’ll also learn you can use a glass mug, so long as it is made from the right sort of glass, and why this glass can be used while others can’t. (Learn How Much Cream And Sugar To Put In Coffee)
Can Hot Coffee Crack Glass?
When filled with a hot beverage, the glass expands fast and
explodes. Likewise, when you pour hot water into a glass, the interior wall of the glass quickly heats up.
One feature of glass can be problematic with hot coffee or other hot drinks: its ability to transfer heat. As a result, glasses aren’t ideal for drinking a hot drink since they transfer heat too efficiently, making them hot to grip and drink from.
Many glasses, particularly those for hot beverages, have been tempered, making them resistant to most temperature changes.
If the glass is fragile, however, even if pouring boiling water is poured inside, the heat quickly spreads to the exterior, causing the interior and exterior to expand at the same time, making the likelihood of glass breaking.
Is It Okay To Put Hot Liquid In Glass?
Some people avoid using a glass pitcher to carry hot water or liquids like freshly brewed coffee because they are frightened of them breaking.
When a glass pitcher made from regular glass gets hot, it expands. Because of the heat, people who drink a lot of hot water notice the interior becomes more noticeable.
This is since the outer layer remains cool. In use, the inner layer grows more than the outer layer because of the temperature and expansion, making it larger.
Traditional glassware has a low thermal expansion coefficient and isn’t as heat resistant as borosilicate glass.
The coefficient of thermal expansion reveals how quickly the glass expands when heated. When it gets hot, the higher the temperature, the more probable the glass will grow.
Borosilicate glass comes with a low thermal expansion coefficient, thgus it is capable of resisting high temperatures. This means that as it gets hot, it doesn’t change much in terms of shape, material, or density. A cup can even face being hot and dipped in cold water without harm.
With this type of glass, you’ll find them more heat resistant when facing extreme temperature changes, and it is possible to drink coffee from such glass mugs without them breaking.
One issue with this glass mug is the additional cost compared to a cheaper ceramic mug.
Can You Use a Glass Mug For Hot Coffee?
You can serve hot drinks in glassware. In China, many tea houses use glasses, as well as many coffee shops.
High-heat meeting glass doesn’t cause an automatic reaction for it to crack. It’s a reaction to the thickness of the glass, which heats up at different temperatures.
You can serve both hot and cold drinks in glass mugs. The glass cup performs well in hot and cold temperatures as long as the glass mugs are thick and durable.
Glass is an all-natural raw material that does not require a lot of energy and emits few CO2s during manufacture, especially when made from recycled glass.
Chemicals are not applied to glass; thus, they won’t contaminate your drink. However, steel, paper, and plastic may contain hazardous chemicals that make your cup of coffee taste terrible.
After each usage, wash your coffee mugs with soap and water. Glass coffee mugs don’t stain like regular mugs, so you can use them all day for your creamy latte or that stiff Espresso you need to perk you up.
Besides this, you will enjoy coffee more than if you drink out of plastic material. The taste is far better, and your cup will be as satisfying as if you were drinking out of a ceramic mug. (Learn How Much Does A Starbucks Barista Make)
Is It OK To Put Hot Coffee in a Mason Jar?
Many people store food in mason jars. So, can you put coffee in a glass mason jar?
Mason jars are adorable and often serve drinks as part of the current trend. However, while durable, they could break if the thermal conditions, such as traveling from ice cold to boiling water, are placed on them.
Make sure the jar isn’t cold before using it for hot drinks. Aside from that, consider placing the mason jar on something that won’t stay cold, such as a mat rather than a cold work surface.
When you go from hot to cold or vice versa, you may experience thermal shock. For example, if your mason jar is hot when you put it in the fridge, it may break.
Remember that mason jars might break when exposed to sudden temperature changes, such as glass heating quickly.
Extreme temperatures can cause untreated glass coffee cups to shatter or break. Pouring hot liquids such as coffee into a cold glass cup, or the other way, very cold liquids into hot glass, isn’t a good idea.
One thing to note is that if you enjoy drinking coffee, glass coffee cups can remain warm for a shorter period than ceramic.
The heat is absorbed by the glass cup’s inner layer when you pour hot coffee into a glass that is already at room temperature. Glass expands when it absorbs heat. Since glass is a poor heat conductor, the inner layer is hot while the outer layer remains cool.
The inner layer of the glass cup expands significantly more than the outer layer because of the temperature difference, putting the outer layer under pressure.
To avoid cracking, you can minimize the temperature difference between the inner and outer layers.
Here are some final thoughts on how to do this:
- Pour hot coffee in a glass cup slowly to slowly warm the cup.
- To help heat dissipation, place a metal spoon before pouring coffee in a glass cup. Then, as the temperature of the coffee drops, the inner glass layer is exposed to a cooler volume of coffee.
- Fill the glass coffee cup halfway with room temperature coffee and halfway with hot coffee to slowly heat the glass.
Can You Put Hot Coffee In A Wine Glass?
The inner layer of the glass absorbs heat when hot water is poured into a thin wine glass.
When a substance expands as it absorbs heat, the glass will break if it cannot withstand high pressure or if made to withstand high temperatures. (Learn How Long Can You Leave Coffee Creamer Out)
Because of the very intense shock, the powerful thermal shock causes the glass to break. Even heat-resistant drink vessels, such as ones made from Pyrex, can’t withstand the heat if filled with high-temperature liquids such as boiling water in your freshly brewed coffee too fast.