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Drink

Coffee

A brewed beverage made from roasted coffee beans and chicory, served hot with milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Coffee

Why it works: Coffee and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,202 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Roast and grind coffee just before using.

  2. Warm the coffee pot.

Brew

  1. Add 1 tablespoon of coffee for every pint of water.

  2. Pour boiling water over the coffee.

  3. Press the coffee down to prevent quick drainage.

  4. Do not boil the coffee.

Serve

  1. Boil the milk separately.

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

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

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

  2. Coffee + chicorytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  3. Chicory + milktop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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; freshly ground coffee releases more of its aromatic compounds.
Milk
Adds richness and softens the bitterness of the brewed coffee.

The step that matters

Do not boil the coffee. Boiling over-extracts bitter compounds from the grounds and can make the brew harsh and burnt-tasting, so the water should be hot but never boiling when it meets the coffee.

“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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