Why it works: Coffee and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,339 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓
Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Grind the coffee moderately fine and measure 1 tablespoon for each person.
Add 1 egg white for each cup of ground coffee and mix with enough water to saturate the grounds.
Brew and serve
Pour the mixture into a coffee pot and add boiling water, using 1 cup for each tablespoon of coffee.
Boil briskly for 10 minutes, then add a small amount of cold water and let it sit for 10 minutes to settle.
Serve immediately, allowing each person to sweeten their cup to taste.
Top each cup with a tablespoon of whipped cream for added elegance.
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 + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Coffee + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,239 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ground coffee
- Provides the flavour base that the brewed coffee extracts.
- Egg white
- Binds fine grounds and helps clarify the brewed coffee as it settles.
The step that matters
Boil briskly for 10 minutes, then settle. The egg white coagulates as it boils, trapping fine grounds so they sink. Adding cold water then helps the grounds settle, leaving a clearer cup.
“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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