Subject: Does freezing a liquid make it taste watery when thawed?

My husband said "I should just freeze my coffee (with cream) and thaw it in the
morning" But I thought this would make it taste watered down. He says no, cause
freezing than thawing doesn't create more water. I think it will be more water-y
and taste different upon thawing. Who is right? :)

Response:

Re: Does freezing a liquid make it taste watery when thawed?

Hi Kristy,

Thanks for submitting your question to the MadSci Network. I think that the best 
person to answer this question, is *you*. That is because this is more of a subjective 
question -- how will it taste to me? -- and not really an objective question -- 
will more water somehow have been added to the coffee?

Really, you should just do the experiment. Freeze some coffee and taste it in the
morning; if you don't like it, it really doesn't matter what happens to the coffee in
the interim, does it?

The answer to the objective question of the addition of water depends on many 
different factors. I'll go through a few of them below.

Lets say you freeze your coffee by making a cup and then sticking
it into the freezer, without doing anything else to it. If you have a frost-free freezer,
then it may go through several freeze/thaw cycles in the night and this may allow 
for some evaporation and sublimation of the contents of the cup, so that when you
take the cup out of the freezer in the morning, there is actually less water in it than
when you put it into the freezer the night before. You'd have to weigh the cup to
determine if this is happening.This is why ice cubes in ice-trays shrink as a rime of
ice builds up on the condenser coils in some freezers.

Lets say, you don't have a frost-free freezer. You leave your coffee in it over night, 
and then thaw the drink by putting it on the counter in the morning and waiting until 
it reaches room temperature. You will notice a large accumulation of water on the 
exterior sides of the cup, and probably on the counter. This is due to the frozen 
coffee cup condensing water out of the air. The water condenses on the sides of 
the cup, on the cold surface of the counter, and *on the surface of the frozen coffee*. 
So, when the coffee is thawed, there will probably be more water in it than when you 
took it out of the freezer. There probably won't be much however, and you probably 
won't notice the difference, but you will have to taste it to be sure (note that it will
be room temperature -- yuck!). 

Lets say that instead of letting the coffee thaw on the counter, you thaw the drink
in the microwave for several minutes. In this case, there is less time for water to
condense out of the air, and there will be less water added to your drink; in fact if
you heat it so that it is steaming hot, the steam is water evaporating from your drink.
So, in that case, there is likely less water than when you started. 

Lets say that instead of just sticking your coffee cup into the freezer, you pour
your coffee into a piece of tupperware and seal it up before you freeze it. In this
case, there isn't an opportunity for any of the drink to evaporate or sublime in 
the freezer. If you let the sealed tupperware container sit on your counter until
the coffee is thawed, there is no opportunity for water in the air to condense on
to the surface of the frozen drink. Then you can pour your thawed coffee back
into a clean up (with no more or less water than when you started) and heat it 
up in the microwave. 

So, really you just need to try it and see if you like it or not. 

Good luck!

Steve Mack, Moderator MadSci Network

_______________________________________________________________
My husband said "I should just freeze my coffee (with cream) and thaw it in the
morning" But I thought this would make it taste watered down. He says no, cause
freezing than thawing doesn't create more water. I think it will be more water-y
and taste different upon thawing. Who is right? :)


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Re: Does freezing a liquid make it taste watery when thawed?