Egg Coffee

No, it's the coffee you drink when you eat eggs.

It's the coffee that has an egg IN it!

There's a lot of debate among Scandinavians as to which country originated this delicious, rich coffee.  My darling mother in law is Swedish and she taught me how to make it.  My friend Carol is also very Swedish and makes this every day.  YET, when I was at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis not long ago, one of the experts there told me that it's very Swedish-American, and that people in Sweden often haven't heard of Egg Coffee.

You won't find chunks of eggs in your coffee, nor will it be cloudy or greasy.  When made right, Egg Coffee is a clear, rich, fragrant cup of joy.  It's simple to make, but obviously takes a bit more time and effort than Mr. Coffee.

Try it once.  Make sure you have something tasty to enjoy with it, preferably sweet and home made.  I had a slice of toast with butter and blackberry jam, and a bit of gouda cheese on the side.  Perfect.

Egg Coffee

water
1 heaping scoop freshly, slightly coarse-ground coffee for each cup of water
1 egg
2 tablespoons water to moisten grounds
1 more cup cold water

In a pot like this:

Or just a sauce pan on the stove (but the one above is so charming, and I bought it for $10 at a junk store),

Pour in your water, please make sure it's good, filtered water.  Bring the water to a boil.  While you're doing that, put your coffee grounds in a bowl, add an egg and the 2 tablespoons of water.

And then when you stir it up, it looks funky like this:

And then you dump that into your boiling water and turn down the temperature to medium low.  It'll sit in a blob on the top like this:



Now, this is important.  Don't let it boil!  Lower to just barely a simmer, so the bubbles come up around the edges.  You can take a wooden spoon and move the grounds gently apart to let some of the water simmer up amongst the mess. 

After about 7 minutes, pour in your cup of cold water and stir it all with the wooden spoon to break up the grounds and cause them to (mostly) sink to the bottom of the pot.

Cook gently for another minute or two and your coffee is DONE.  You might want to use a little hand-held strainer when you pour your coffee, just to catch any of the tiny grounds that rebelled and floated back to the surface.

Here's a happy cup of morning goodness.  Enjoy!