Do We Make a Bracha Achrona on a Cup of Hot Coffee or Tea?

Question: Do you make the bracha achrona of בורא נפשות after drinking a cup of hot coffee or tea? What about iced coffee/ tea?

My Introduction: 

1. Bracha Rishona - When it comes to eating foods and making brachot before eating, in almost all cases one is required to make a bracha before eating the food. This is based on the idea that all food belongs to Hashem and He gives it to us on the condition that we first recognize where it comes from and appreciate Him. In fact, if we fail to make a bracha rishona and eat the food anyway, it is compared to “stealing” from Hashem, as we do not yet have the permission to eat it. This is based on the pasuk in Tehilim that states “The earth is Hashem’s, and its fullness” (24:1). If the world and everything in it belongs to Hashem, the Tosefta explains, then anyone who takes from it – such as by eating an apple – has essentially violated me’ilah – taking sacred property for oneself. 
2. Bracha Achrona - When it comes to bracha achrona, the bracha recited to thank Hashem after you eat a food, there are two other factors that contribute to deciding if a bracha is warranted. 

• Did you eat enough of the food? 
• How quickly did you eat it? 

Let’s explore each of these:

• Did you eat enough of the food? To be obligated in reciting a bracha achrona, one must eat a minimum measure, or a  שיעור. For a solid food this is usually a כזית, while technically translated as the volume of an olive, in practice it means roughly the volume of an egg, or approximately 1.1 ounces. For liquids this amount is a רביעית, which is approximately 3.8 ounces.
• How quickly did you eat it? 
• For solid foods, the halacha is that one must eat the כזית in the timespan known as כדי אכילת פרס. Most poskim assume this is approximately 2-4 minutes. 
• One of the issues that will relate to the halacha below is what is the time frame for drinking the רביעית? Some poskim assume it is the same כדי אכילת פרס, while others disagree and have a more limited, shorter timespan. They say this is measured by כדי שתית רביעית, or  the amount of time it takes a typical person to drink a  רביעית. This is approximately 30 seconds.

Know the facts -  When it comes to brachot, our goal is to know if you are obligated or not. If you are obligated then you know what to do; make the bracha. If you are not obligated, then you may not choose to make the bracha as that would be a ברכה לבטלה או ברכה שאינה צריכה. Not being obligated is not a bad thing. It just means you cannot make the bracha.

Rav Ovadia’s Answer: Rambam says that if one drinks a little bit, stops, then drinks some more - if from beginning to end this took the amount of time it normally takes to drink a רביעית, then the two sips can combine together and one would make a bracha achrona. But if the two sips combined with the break took longer than the amount of time it takes to drink a רביעית, they do not combine and he would not be obligated to make a bracha achrona. The Shulchan Aruch states that this is the halacha. Accordingly, Rav Ovadia says that when drinking a hot cup of tea or coffee, one would normally sip that slowly and thus not drink the רביעית quickly enough to warrant a bracha achrona.

However, Rav Avraham Halevi in שו׳׳ת גנת ורדים disagrees. He argues that the Rambam and Shulchan Aruch are talking about where it is normal to drink at that pace. So if it is normal to sip coffee or tea slowly, that would be considered the normal time it takes to drink it and if you consume a רביעית, you would have to make a בורא נפשות. Although some other Poskim agree with this position, Rav Ovadia quotes a litany of other Poskim who argue and conclude that this is not correct; you must drink it in the time it takes to drink a רביעית and since drinking hot tea or coffee takes longer, you would not make a bracha achrona.

Rav Ovadia proceeds to quote a number of Ashkinazic poskim who argue that you should make a בורא נשפות, among them the Chasam Sofer, Maram Shik and others. However, the Mishnah Berurah of the Chafetz Chaim argues that you should not.

Summary: Sefardim should not make a bracha achrona after a hot cup of tea or coffee. It seems that the practice of some Ashkinazim is to make the bracha, while most do not.

Using these principles, one would not make a bracha achrona after eating hot soup or even after drinking a very cold drink where you do not drink it so quickly. 

However, in many instances you can avoid the problem by leaving over some of the drink to the end where you can drink a shiur of a רביעית in the amount of time necessary. This can be done with hot tea or cold tea. If you do this, then you would make the bracha achrona according to all opinions. 

(This summary is based on יחוה דעת חלק ה׳ תשובה כא׳)