Why it works: Coffee and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,202 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
Iced Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Brew more coffee than usual and make it stronger.
Add ⅓ cup of hot milk for every cup of coffee and set aside to cool.
Once cold, pour over ice in each tumbler and serve as dessert.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coffee
- Provides the main bitter, roasted flavour; brewing it stronger keeps the taste intact once ice dilutes it.
- Hot milk
- Softens the coffee's bitterness and adds creaminess and body to the drink.
- Cracked ice
- Chills the drink quickly and slowly melts in, gently diluting it.
The step that matters
Brewing the coffee stronger. Ice and milk dilute the coffee as they melt and mix in, so if the coffee is brewed at normal strength the finished drink tastes weak and watery.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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