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Drink

Vienna Coffee

A coffee drink made with mocha and java coffee, eggs, cream, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Vienna Coffee

2 servings

Ingredients

Directions

Brew the coffee

  1. Combine equal parts Mocha and Java coffee.

  2. Use 3 tablespoons of coffee for every 2 servings.

  3. Mix the egg with the coffee grounds.

  4. Pour in half the boiling water needed and let it froth.

  5. Stir down the grounds.

  6. Boil for 5 minutes.

  7. Let it sit hot (but not boiling) for 5 to 10 minutes.

  8. Add the remaining water.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the beaten egg white to the cream.

  2. Sweeten with sugar.

  3. Pour the hot coffee over the cream mixture.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mocha and java coffee
Provides the main coffee flavor and aroma of the drink.
Egg
Mixed with the grounds to help clarify the brewed coffee.
Cream
Adds richness and body that softens the hot coffee.
Egg white
Whipped into the cream to add lightness and airy structure.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the coffee.

The step that matters

Let it sit hot (but not boiling) for 5 to 10 minutes.. Holding the coffee just below boiling lets the grounds and egg settle out while avoiding harsh, bitter over-extraction that boiling can cause.

“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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