Why it works: Coffee and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,239 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Roast and store
Roast the coffee quickly until light brown, stirring constantly.
Stir in the beaten egg whites when the coffee is half cold.
Let the coffee cool and dry.
Store the coffee in a tight box.
Brew
Grind the coffee.
Mix the ground coffee with a little cold water.
Use 1 tablespoon of coffee per person.
Use 1 teacup of boiling water per person.
Boil the mixture in a covered pot for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid bitterness.
Add 1 teacup of cold water.
Let the mixture stand for 5-6 minutes.
Pour the mixture into another pot.
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.
-
Coffee + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,239 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coffee
- Provides the main flavour and aroma once roasted, ground and brewed.
- Egg whites
- Stirred into the hot coffee to help clarify the brew and settle grounds.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture in a covered pot, stirring occasionally. Boiling for a long time with grounds in the liquid can extract bitter compounds. Stirring occasionally keeps the grounds distributed so the brew does not turn harsh.
“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.
More coffee recipes
You might also like
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Blackberry Cordial129 recipes
Lemonade126 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.