# Egg in boiled coffee?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-in-boiled-coffee/239427
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 11, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-in-boiled-coffee/239427 "2004-04-11T06:16:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-in-boiled-coffee/239427/1 "2004-04-11T06:16:20Z")
I’ve seen recipes before that called for an egg or egg white when making boilded coffee. And in the movie _Lover Come Back_, Dorris Day cracks an egg right into the coffee pot. So I was wondering…
1. What function does the egg serve?
2. Do people still make coffee this way? When did it lose popularity?
3. Have you ever tried coffee made this way? How did it taste?
Thanks for the info!
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### Author:  [@LadyMack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LadyMack)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-in-boiled-coffee/239427/2 "2004-04-11T06:23:04Z")
> [@Aeschines](#):
>
> I’ve seen recipes before that called for an egg or egg white when making boilded coffee. And in the movie _Lover Come Back_, Dorris Day cracks an egg right into the coffee pot. So I was wondering…
>
> 1. What function does the egg serve?
> 2. Do people still make coffee this way? When did it lose popularity?
> 3. Have you ever tried coffee made this way? How did it taste?
>
> Thanks for the info!
[This](http://www.bartleby.com/87/r0008.html) may have an answer.
No, I haven’t tried it, and am not going to.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-in-boiled-coffee/239427/3 "2004-04-11T06:23:22Z")
The purpose of adding eggshell to coffee is to make the grounds settle down to the bottom instead of swirling through the coffee. I think the scientific term is “precipitate.” Note that this is only egg_shell_. Not eggwhite nor, for crying out loud, cracking a whole egg into the coffeepot. Ridiculous! You would turn your coffee into egg-drop soup if you tried that.
I once saw an Italian recipe for coffee _zabaglione_, but that would be adding coffee to the eggs, rather than the reverse.
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### Author:  [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2004, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-in-boiled-coffee/239427/4 "2004-04-11T06:44:33Z")
The Swedes, when not donning horned helmets and terrorizing Europe, are known to put an egg in their coffee. (During the prep phase.) From what I gather, the egg ‘cooks’, and catches the grounds, and all sinks to the bottom. When I was in the Swedish protectorate of Minnesota, I had coffee prepared this way, and it was damned good. No ‘egg’ taste to it.
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### Author:  [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2004, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-in-boiled-coffee/239427/5 "2004-04-11T09:46:08Z")
Yep, I’ve read about the using eggshells to make the coffee grounds sink to the bottoms too, though I have not tried it. Have not hesard of the “whole egg” thing though.
Incidentally, I am sure I have also read suggestions that eggshell cn be used in the fining stage of making hme-made wine. Not tried that one either, though!
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-in-boiled-coffee/239427/6 "2004-04-11T15:26:03Z")
In The Who’s movie “Tommy” Keith Moon is seen cracking a raw egg in a cup of coffee…
…or is that a pint of Guinness?