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Drink

To Boil Coffee

A method of boiling coffee by adding it to boiling water and simmering.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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To Boil Coffee

To Boil Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coffee

  1. Fill a pot with water, leaving some space at the top.

  2. Bring the water to a boil, then stir in the coffee immediately.

  3. Allow it to boil strongly for 1 to 2 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Settle and serve

  1. Pour out a large cupful of coffee, holding it high above the pot, then pour it back in.

  2. Set the pot on the stove to keep hot for another 10 minutes without simmering.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Coffee
Provides the flavour and body of the drink; its solids are extracted directly into the hot water.
Water
Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour compounds from the coffee grounds.

The step that matters

Pouring the coffee back in after the first pour-out. Pouring from height and back mixes the brew so the grounds that have sunk and settled are redistributed, and the cooling layer is evened out. Keeping the pot hot without simmering avoids over-extraction and bitterness.

“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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