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Drink

Vienna Coffee

A frothy coffee beverage made with mocha, java, coffee grounds, egg, cream, egg white, 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

Ingredients

Directions

Brew the coffee

  1. Combine Mocha and Java coffee in equal parts.

  2. Add 3 tablespoons of coffee to a pot.

  3. Mix 1 egg with the coffee grounds.

  4. Pour in half the amount of boiling water needed.

  5. Let it froth, then stir down the grounds and boil for 5 minutes.

  6. Remove from heat and let it stand hot for 5 to 10 minutes.

  7. Add the remaining boiling water.

Assemble and serve

  1. In cups, combine the beaten egg white with cream and sugar.

  2. 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 coffee and java coffee
Provide the main coffee flavor and aroma of the drink.
Egg
Mixed into the grounds to help them settle, leaving a clearer brew.
Cream
Adds richness and body, softening the bitterness of the coffee.
Egg white
Beaten into the cream mixture to add a light, airy foam.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the coffee.

The step that matters

Let it froth, then stir down the grounds and boil for 5 minutes.. Stirring the grounds down after frothing, then boiling, helps them sink with the egg so the coffee stays clear. Skipping the stir leaves grounds suspended in the cup.

“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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