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Eastern Cream Nectar

A chilled coffee-based drink with honey, sugar, milk, cream, and soda water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Eastern Cream Nectar

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coffee base

  1. Make an infusion of the coffee using 2 tablespoons per pint.

  2. While hot, dissolve the honey and sugar after straining.

  3. Add the milk and cream, stirring frequently until cold.

Chill and serve

  1. Chill in ice or a freezer until ready to serve.

  2. Add the soda water.

  3. Serve immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Honey + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,336 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  3. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Extra strong coffee
Provides the main coffee flavour and bitterness that the sweetness and cream balance.
Honey
Adds sweetness and a rounded flavour, dissolving easily while the coffee is hot.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves into the hot coffee to balance its bitterness.
Milk
Adds moisture and softens the coffee's bitterness, giving a smoother drink.
Cream
Adds fat for a rich, creamy body and mouthfeel.
Soda water
Adds carbonation, giving the drink its fizz and a lighter texture.

The step that matters

Add the soda water last. Carbon dioxide escapes faster from warm or agitated liquid, so the soda water loses its fizz if added early. Keeping the base cold and adding the soda just before serving preserves carbonation.

“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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