Why it works: Coffee and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,344 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Select good quality coffee, preferably 'Old Government Java'.
Roast the coffee to a chestnut brown, ensuring even roasting and discarding any burned grains.
Once almost cool, stir in the egg white thoroughly.
Keep the coffee away from air to preserve its aroma.
Grind the coffee moderately fine.
Brew and serve
In a hot pot, add 1 teacupful of ground coffee.
Pour 1 quart of boiling water over the coffee and let it steep for 10 minutes.
Clarify the coffee by adding a few tablespoons of cold water.
Serve with sugar, cream, milk, or hot water as desired.
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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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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 flavor and aroma of the drink.
- Egg white
- Is stirred into the cooled coffee to help clarify it.
The step that matters
Keep the coffee away from air. Exposure to air lets the volatile aromatic compounds in roasted coffee escape, so the flavor fades. Keeping the roasted coffee sealed preserves its aroma until it is ground and brewed.
“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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