Coffee Break

There is a huge discrepancy between the various opinions as to how long this timeframe is. It may be as short as two minutes or as long as nine minutes. For argument’s sake, let’s peg the time as five minutes. In five minutes of partaking of the kutach dip in the normal way, one would not consume a k’zayis of chametz.

But what does this have to do with espresso-infused chocolate bombs?

When it comes to reciting a berachah rishonah, there is no minimum amount of food one must eat. One recites a berachah even over a crumb. However, when it comes to a berachah acharonah, there is a minimum. For solid food, the minimum is a k’zayis, or the volume of an olive. Furthermore, that minimum amount of food must be consumed in the timeframe of b’chdei achilas p’ras. (Bentching when full may be an exception to this rule.) It is clear that the minimum amount of liquid to mandate a berachah acharonah is a revi’is, or about three fluid ounces. However, the timeframe for consuming that liquid is the subject of much debate. The Mishnah Berurah assumes that the Shulchan Aruch holds that, for drinks, one must drink the entire amount in two gulps. However, the Vilna Gaon is of the opinion that the same timeframe that exists for solid food applies to drinks as well. As long as one drank three ounces in k’dei achilas p’ras (2–9 minutes), one would be obligated to recite a berachah acharonah.

Around 300 years ago, Rav Yaakov Kuli, zt’l, wondered what the halachah would be about reciting a berachah acharonah over the drink produced by an espresso-infused chocolate bomb. However, since he wasn’t able to procure that confection back then, he simply wrote about coffee instead. Coffee is a hot drink, and while it may be just fine to drink a cold drink in two gulps, one simply doesn’t drink coffee that way. He theorized that perhaps for coffee, there should be an extended period of time to consume three ounces. This time would be unique to hot coffee and similar drinks that are sipped.

However, he was stopped in his tracks by the moldy bread dip. The Gemara says that when the dip is eaten in a typical fashion, one will never consume a k’zayis of chametz b’chdei achilas p’ras. Why not? It takes much longer to eat a p’ras (volume of three eggs) worth of dip. Perhaps the timeframe should be as long as 20 minutes, because that is the time necessary to consume a p’ras of dip. Apparently, Rav Kuli surmised, there is no extra time allotted to eating a dip. The timeframe of k’dei achilas p’ras is constant no matter what food one is eating. In the standard 2–9 minutes, one will not consume a k’zayis of the bread in the dip. So too, Harav Yaakov Kuli reasoned, coffee should be treated as any other drink. The same timeframe that applies to cold drinks applies to hot drinks. Typically, one will not drink hot coffee quickly enough to require a berachah acharonah. Indeed, the Mishnah Berurah says it is the custom not to recite a berachah acharonah over coffee.

The Minchas Chinuch disagrees. He says that no proof may be brought from kutach haBavli. There is only one ingredient in the dip that is chametz: the stale bread. Therefore, one can’t argue that additional time should be allotted to eat the kutach haBavli dip, because we are only concerned with the bread component. The entire regular shiur of k’dei achilas p’ras is fashioned after that very same component, bread! However, for coffee we should have a longer timeframe. Rav Vozner, zt’l, opined that the custom of his rebbeim was to follow the opinion of the Minchas Chinuch and recite a berachah acharonah on coffee, regardless of how long it took them to drink it, as long as it was drunk in a commonly accepted amount of time.

The Mishnah Berurah advises one to leave over three ounces of coffee and drink that at regular speed after it has cooled off. This way one would be able to recite a berachah acharonah according to all opinions ... or most opinions. The Da’as Torah says that drinking cold coffee is like guzzling kutach haBavli by itself. That is not the normal way of eating and drinking. One would not recite a berachah acharonah after drinking or eating in an abnormal manner.

After all, who would possibly drink iced coffee?„