Food & Drink

Taste Test: Swedish Egg Coffee

Here at Umgås, we fika often, encourage others to do so and always are on the lookout for the best cafés while traveling. In fact, it’s safe to say that coffee is a daily necessity for most of our staff. That’s why when we heard about Swedish egg coffee, we had to give it a try.

Swedish egg coffee is exactly as it sounds: coffee with an egg added into it. No, you don’t actually consume the egg, instead it’s used to absorb the bitterness and acidity of the coffee grounds, making for a smooth cup of joe.

We followed this recipe from The Spruce, using a stovetop pot and finely-ground Café Bustelo that was sitting in our pantry.

Here’s how it went.

The Process

Ingredients (for 10 servings):

• 9¼ c. water, divided
• ¾ c. freshly ground coffee (medium to coarse grind)
• 1 egg
• 1 c. cold water

Directions:

Step 1: Bring water to a boil.

Step 2: Mix coffee grounds, a quarter cup of water and egg together in a bowl.

Step 3: Add egg and coffee mixture to boiling water. Boil for three minutes.

Step 4: Remove pot from heat and pour in one cup of cold water. Let coffee sit until the grounds settle to the bottom.

Step 5: Strain coffee.

Step 6: Sip and enjoy.

Our Thoughts

When we brew Café Bustelo in a regular drip coffee pot, it typically has a bold, bitter flavor and dark murky texture (we like our coffee strong). But this time, the coffee was slightly translucent and had a brighter tone. Nervous the coffee came out too weak, it had a surprisingly bold flavor. The texture was smooth and had a creaminess to it, even though we drank it black. Hints of bitterness still were evident but less noticeable than in regular drip.

Overall the coffee did the trick and tasted great. But the process was time consuming, requiring several more steps than when making coffee in an automatic-drip coffee maker.

While we see Swedish egg coffee in our future, the process isn’t efficient enough to replace our morning coffee ritual.