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 ↓
How to Make Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Make the coffee
Scald the coffee pot.
Add the coffee to the pot.
Pour boiling water over the coffee.
Let it steep for 5 minutes.
Strain the coffee and let it just boil up.
Serve
Serve immediately in hot cups with thick cream and sugar.
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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Cream + sugartop 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
- Freshly ground coffee
- Provides the main flavor and aroma of the drink.
- Boiling water
- Extracts flavor from the coffee grounds during steeping.
- Cream
- Adds richness and softens the bitterness of the coffee.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the coffee's bitterness.
The step that matters
Let it steep for 5 minutes. Steeping for the stated time lets the water draw out flavor from the grounds. Too short gives a weak cup, and too long can make it bitter.
“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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