Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
To Make Good Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the coffee
Blend equal parts of Mocha, Java, and Rio coffee to suit taste.
Grind coffee very fine for percolation or coarse for boiling.
Use 1 level teaspoon of ground coffee per cup of water.
Serve
Warm the cups and cream before serving.
Add cream to the cup before pouring in coffee; sugar can be added at any time.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coffee
- Provides the bitter, aromatic base that gives the drink its flavour.
- Cream
- Adds fat for richness and softens the coffee's bitterness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the coffee's bitterness.
The step that matters
Matching the grind to the brewing method. Extraction depends on surface area and contact time. A grind that is too fine for boiling can leave grounds in the cup, while one that is too coarse for percolation may brew weak and under-extracted.
“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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