How to Make Norwegian Egg Coffee? What's the Difference Between Norwegian Egg Coffee and Vietnamese Egg Coffee?

Norwegian Egg Coffee: A Unique Coffee Tradition

When it comes to the combination of eggs and coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes that many friends will immediately think of Vietnamese egg coffee. After all, that creamy, silky texture is unforgettable from the first sip. But did you know that besides Vietnam, there's another country with its own unique egg and coffee combination? That's right—the Nordic country mentioned in our title: Norway.

Norwegian egg coffee has recently created another wave of excitement on the internet, which has made FrontStreet Coffee pay attention to it once again. Although Norwegian egg coffee uses similar ingredients to Vietnamese egg coffee, the final coffee product is completely different.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Norwegian egg coffee originated in the 19th century. At that time, Norway faced various restrictions that led to unstable coffee supplies, causing coffee bean prices to soar locally. Norway was already a major coffee-consuming country back then. Facing high coffee bean prices, many Norwegian families with limited financial resources had to purchase cheap coffee powder and reduce the amount used for each brew. Additionally, since filter paper had not yet been invented, people could only rely on filter cloths to separate coffee grounds. However, because filter cloths didn't work very well, coffee often contained many grounds—half coffee, half residue with each sip. The combination of cheap coffee powder and over-extraction from small amounts resulted in coffee that was both bitter and harsh. And then came the practice of adding raw eggs to coffee powder!

By whisking the entire egg (including the shell) into the coffee powder beforehand, the bitterness of the coffee can be improved. It not only tastes smoother but also exhibits more outstanding aroma. Meanwhile, the texture of the coffee becomes better due to the presence of the egg, resulting in an overall clean, grounds-free experience without any harshness. This sounds so magical that it made FrontStreet Coffee eager to taste it. So, FrontStreet Coffee had colleagues borrow two eggs from the neighbor next door (with no intention of returning them) for a small trial. Now, let's experience what Norwegian egg coffee truly tastes like!

Ingredients and Preparation

Besides eggs, Norwegian egg coffee only requires coffee powder, appropriate amount of hot water, and brewing equipment—it's that simple. To best simulate the coffee taste of that era, FrontStreet Coffee used Sumatra Golden Mandheling beans, which are currently the darkest roasted beans in our selection (coffee at that time was all dark roasted). Since the eggs came from the neighbor's refrigerator, FrontStreet Coffee didn't add the eggshells this time

The preparation parameters are as follows:

Coffee powder amount: 25g

Powder-to-water ratio: 1:10 (250ml hot water)

Grind level: 10 on EK43 (85% passing through #20 sieve), because we don't brew for long, so we use a slightly finer grind (for dark roasted Mandheling).

Number of eggs: 1

Once the ingredients are prepared, we first pour the coffee powder into any container, then crack in the egg!

Next, take any tool and stir until the egg mixture evenly coats all the coffee powder.

When you can lift the mixture without any stringy consistency appearing, you can start boiling water to make coffee! Then when the water boils, add all the coffee powder coated with egg mixture.

After adding all the coffee powder, immediately reduce the heat and start timing for two minutes. Remember to stir with a tool about 10 times after timing begins. Then just wait for the countdown to complete, turn off the heat, and end the extraction.

After brewing, all the coffee grounds will coagulate into clumps and float on the surface. As long as we pour gently, we can filter out the coffee cleanly without any grounds.

However, because the coagulated coffee grounds are not visually appealing, FrontStreet Coffee won't show them here to avoid offending your eyes. From the picture below, we can see that the entire cup of coffee has very few impurities and is clean and clear.

Taste Experience

The kind folks at FrontStreet Coffee had a colleague taste it first. After confirming through the colleague's expression that the coffee didn't have any strange taste, they immediately tried it too~ Indeed, the coffee tastes very smooth, with almost no bitterness. The entire cup has a very smooth texture, and importantly, the egg flavor, combined with Mandheling's chocolate notes, creates a sweet chocolate cake taste. It's quite a marvelous experience and very easy to drink when hot! Yes, only when hot! As the coffee cools, the egg flavor gradually becomes more pronounced, and you can start to detect the egg's distinctive taste, which isn't friendly to those with more sensitive palates. So if friends want to try making this coffee, please be sure to drink it before it cools! Otherwise, the coffee will become increasingly difficult to drink as the temperature drops.

The Science Behind Egg Coffee

The reason why adding eggs can soften the texture and coagulate coffee grounds is due to the utilization of the egg's physical and chemical properties. We all know that egg mixture coagulates at high temperatures, especially the proteins in eggs, which coagulate fastest. So when coffee powder is coated with egg mixture, it gets "trapped" during the extraction process as the egg mixture coagulates. Ultimately, we can easily filter out the coffee grounds to get a clean, "impurity-free" coffee. Plus, the egg's own flavor (including the shell) can enhance the coffee, which is why the resulting coffee has excellent texture and a distinctive taste.

Historical Context and Decline

Because of this, Norwegian egg coffee remained a very popular preparation method throughout the 20th century. During World War II, when Norway was occupied by Germany, coffee beans became an even scarcer resource. Egg coffee quickly became the preferred solution for Norwegian housewives. This method even spread to other Nordic countries, such as Sweden. Swedish egg coffee preparation involves adding a small amount of cold water after brewing to accelerate cooling. But as FrontStreet Coffee described, it doesn't perform very well when cooled. So after the war ended, because coffee beans were no longer scarce resources and better filtration methods became available, fewer and fewer people made egg coffee. That's why you can see many people in Norway online saying they don't see egg coffee locally, or that few locals know about this coffee. Because this coffee wasn't passed down through generations, it's mostly made by some older local people or families in rural areas~

- END -

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473