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
Make the coffee
Brew more coffee than usual and make it stronger.
Add ⅓ as much hot milk as you have coffee and set aside to cool.
Chill and serve
Once cold, place the mixture on ice.
Serve as dessert with cracked ice in each glass.
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 strong, bitter coffee flavour that carries the drink once diluted by ice.
- Hot milk
- Softens the bitterness of the coffee and adds creaminess and a mellow sweetness to the drink.
The step that matters
Brewing the coffee stronger than usual. Ice melts into the coffee as it is served, diluting it. Starting with stronger coffee keeps the final drink from tasting 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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