Question:
Sholom and Thank You!
I have “viter energy” mints I take purely for the caffeine though it has a good taste and gives good breath both of which I do enjoy. But I would never take the mint if it did not have caffeine. I eat it only for that purpose. Same for black coffee which I don’t enjoy though I can’t say I hate it. Same for green tea. I know all this seems to be a machlokes And I want to stay away from the doubt. But how ? Even if I find a shehakol like a jelly bean (which I don’t want to eat daily) every time, what about the beracha achrona for coffee and tea ? Hot water is something I enjoy for the heat but also is subject to machlokes. I would be very grateful for an eitzah of how to deal with this as it comes up daily a few times a day. Thank You!
Answer:
Thank you for your question.
It is not clear to me what machlokes you are referring to. The Shulchan Aruch 204-8 says that anything that is eaten even if it for health reasons, if it has a good taste we say shehakol on it. The mints taste good, the black coffee and green tea, (although not quite like mints…) still don’t taste that bad that we wouldn’t made a bracha on it. Therefore I don’t know what machlokes you mean.
Regarding making a bracha achrona on coffee or tea, that is controversial, since it takes time to drink it, and there are poskim who say that the window of time in order to make a bracha achrona on drinks is only a few seconds. Others however say that it is like eating and you have between 4-5 ( or even up to 9) min. Therefore the Mishna Berura 210-1 says not to make a bracha achrona on a hot tea or coffee that one drank slowly. There is an option to avoid this controversy, by leaving over a reviis of tea at the end of the cup until it cools down, then to drink it quickly and then you can make a bracha achrona on it without getting into any controversy.
Best wishes
