HALACHA-----kashrus and coffee
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Benny Posted - 22 May 2000 18:00
Are you allowed to drink coffee cooked by a non-Jew if you're not Makpid on cholov yisroel?
MODERATOR Posted - 22 May 2000 18:10
1) Coffee cooked by a non-Jew is permitted. The reason: The water is considered the main substance of the coffee (it's a shehakol, right?) and there is no prohibition on water cooked by a non-Jew.
2) Under most circumstances, Cholov Yisroel is not optional. Rav Moshe Feinstein ZT"L, in a letter to a Rabbi Weinfeld in Monsey, printed in "Hilchos Kashrus" by Rabbi B. Forst of Far Rockaway, explained what he meant with his "heter" for cholov stam.
He says that even though there are rationales for saying that nowadays all dairy processed under government supervision has the status of cholov yisroel, it is still not proper to drink milk except under Jewish supervision, even if it is a bit more expensive or difficult to acquire. The heter was only meant for dire circumstances. (Many people do not know this, but what are websites for??)
M.J. Posted - 31 May 2002 17:49
I once heard that you are permitted to drink coffee from any coffee shop for example Starbucks, or the likes. Now I understand that buying coffee at McDonalds would be a problem, but say there aren't any Traifos being cooked at that specific location; they strictly deal with coffee.
MODERATOR Posted - 31 May 2002 18:24
Flavored coffee needs a hechsher, otherwise it can be totally non-kosher. So you cant drink in Starbucks.
You can drink any plain coffee - there is no bishul akum and no hechsher needed (except for the cholov yisroel issue).
michaelk Posted - 03 September 2002 22:14
1) I heard that specifically Starbucks coffee is okay, because the Starbucks factory has a hashgacha and all thus the stuff sent to the individual Starbucks stores is kosher. (this is not true for frappacinos, for various reasons)
2) My sister says she heard that coffee does not need a hashgacha because it is like spices. Is this true?
MODERATOR Posted - 03 September 2002 23:26
Coffee itself does not need a hechsher, unless it is flavored. then it needs one. I checked with the OU and they told me they do NOT give any hechsher on the Starbucks coffees.
To go to a cafe - Starbucks or otherwise - is a problem because the utensils that they use to cook or to make the flavored coffees may also be used to make the regular coffees.
So unless you know that is not so, you cannot drink even unflavored coffee in those places.
There are coffee flavorings with a hechsher - such as Flavor Fragrance, under the Star K. But unless you know that your place exclusively uses such flavorings - and you need halachicly valid proof, not merely an assumption - you shouldn’t get coffee there.
Incidentally, the above flavoring even though kosher, is kitniyus and not usable for Pesach. there are currently no flavored coffees in
Beautman Posted - 04 September 2002 19:35
It's not nogeah to getting coffee in the cafe, but some Starbucks packaged products definitely have good hecksherim.
MODERATOR Posted - 04 September 2002 19:37
True - bottled frappachinos have the OU (I was talking bout the outlets), but they're not cholov yisroel.
strive4truth Posted - 15 October 2002 19:49
most of the packaged coffees (in bean form) that starbucks sells do in fact have an OU - and most of the flavoring syrups they use in the store have an OU, too (you must check each individual flavor for a hechsher, but all Starbucks use Fontana syrups, and most happen to have an OU)
MODERATOR Posted - 21 October 2002 12:34
But you need a guarantee that the store is in fact using that syrup and not another, non kosher one that they may have brought in. An akum does not have that kind of halachic reliability.
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