The best temperature for both nutrition and taste.

Every food has an optimal temperature for the best flavor. Kitchen thermometers have become common in most Western countries to precisely measure the ideal temperature of food, allowing you to cook the most delicious meals. The temperature of food is closely related to its texture and nutritional value.

Brewing Tea

The optimal water temperature for brewing tea is 70°C—80°C. This ensures the tea has a perfect color, aroma, and flavor, and preserves the nutrients in the tea leaves, such as vitamin C, caffeine, and tannic acid, from being destroyed. After brewing, the tea should be kept at 65°C.

Drinking Water

The ideal temperature for drinking water or rinsing your mouth is 35°C—38°C, as this temperature is least irritating to the mouth and teeth. When boiled water cools to 12°C—17°C, it is most refreshing.

Drinking Soup

Soup tastes best at 60°C—65°C. At this temperature, the solid ingredients and broth blend perfectly, and the seasonings can fully release their flavors, resulting in the best texture.

Heating Milk

Milk should not be boiled for a long time. Generally, 60°C—70°C is sufficient to pasteurize it while keeping its flavor fresh. This is because the proteins in milk undergo significant changes when heated.

Vegetables

From a nutritional preservation standpoint, methods like eating raw, stir-frying, steaming, stewing, and microwaving are preferable. Frying, boiling, grilling, and deep-frying are less suitable. Vegetables can easily lose some vitamins at 60°C—80°C. When making soup, vegetables should not be boiled for too long to avoid further destruction of vitamin C. The best temperature for eating vegetables is 50°C—60°C for the best texture.

Blanching Chinese Broccoli

Meat

Meat is most flavorful, aromatic, and tender at 70°C—75°C. A whole poultry should reach 82°C to ensure the thickest part is fully cooked. Since bacteria can easily spread during the processing of minced meat, it must reach at least 71°C to be safe.

Mixing Honey

The optimal temperature for mixing honey water is 50°C—60°C. If you use boiling water, it will not only alter the sweet taste of the honey, making it sour, but also denature the enzymes in the honey.

Frying Seafood

Fried seafood should be taken out of the oil at around 90°C and served at 70°C. This is not too hot and preserves the best flavor. If the oil temperature is too low, the undercooked seafood is unhygienic and can cause diarrhea. If the temperature is too high, it will coagulate the proteins in the seafood, making it harder to digest.

Eating Watermelon

The best temperature for eating watermelon is 8°C—10°C. Below this temperature, you cannot experience its true sweet and sandy texture; above this temperature, it not only spoils more easily but is also less refreshing.

Cold Drinks

Cold treats like popsicles are best enjoyed between 0°C—6°C, while ice cream is most delightful at 6°C. Soda is most refreshing when served at 3°C—5°C, and the optimal temperature for fruit juice is 8°C—10°C. Although adding ice to juice is fashionable, it can irritate the stomach. Heating it, on the other hand, not only ruins the original texture but can also destroy the vitamins.

Wine Tasting

The ideal serving temperature for red wine is around 18°C, though this can vary slightly with the season. The difference should be no more than 2°C. Beer is most crisp and pleasant in the summer at 6°C—8°C, and most mellow in the winter at 10°C—12°C.

Adding MSG

MSG should generally be added when a dish is almost cooked or just out of the pot. The food temperature at this point is around 70°C—90°C, which is the ideal temperature for MSG to dissolve and produce the strongest umami flavor. Conversely, when the temperature exceeds 120°C, the sodium glutamate in MSG will焦化 (carbonize), losing its flavor and becoming somewhat toxic.