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  • Active Time

    20 min

  • Total Time

    20 min

Boiling this strong coffee with eggshells clarifies it by helping the grounds to settle.

Ingredients

Makes 8 servings

10 tablespoons medium-ground full-flavored coffee
10 cups cold water (preferably filtered)
5 empty eggshells, crushed

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring all ingredients to a full boil in a large nonreactive saucepan, partially covered, then simmer, tightly covered, 5 to 7 minutes.

    Step 2

    Let stand, covered, off heat until grounds settle, about 2 minutes. Carefully strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a pot.

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  • Here is the best of old and new ways to make "egg coffee". Put dried/crushed eggshells in the basket along with the fresh ground coffee beans of my coffee maker. The coffee runs thru the eggshells (taking any acidity out of the coffee) making it the smoothest coffee ever.

    • lkeyte

    • Texas

    • 4/6/2014

  • Haven't made the recipe, nor have I ever tasted it, but saw it made many times as a child on my grandmother's stove back in the 60's. Am adding my comment to describe her way of making it: in a clear Pyrex double boiler. Can no longer remember if the eggshells were at the bottom or the top half. It almost seemed as though this double boiler were made for this intended purpose; my memory has me seeing it with a glass, knobbed cover and a handle to pour (not unlike a coffee carafe in any standard coffee maker, just "double-deckered" to work as a double-boiler). Fun to see this post - hadn't thought about this coffee in years.

    • ceedee

    • Boston

    • 10/10/2013

  • I forgot to mention, if you make a raft out of the eggs themselves and the ground coffee, and simmer rather than boil, you make essentially a coffee consume. Just an interesting variation to throw out there.

    • chefblackstock

    • 3/6/2009

  • I have been drinking coffee since I was 5 years old (no, I'm not exaggerating) and this is the style my dad used to make on the campfire. I am a coffee lover and make this about once a week. I especially love the body and slight astringincy it gives. The cup of cold water at the end is definitely an outdoorsmans trick, my dad would send me to the creek to get the last cup. Thank you for putting this classic up!

    • chefblackstock

    • 3/6/2009

  • My uncle made coffee like this on camping trips with a cool physics lesson to entertain the kids: at the end of the brewing time, remove the pot from the heat and dash in a cup of cold water (it means you use less water when you brew). The grounds and eggshells will "magically" sink to the bottom of the pot. No straining required. This makes delicious camp coffee if you don't have an insulated stainless steel French press. It's also good made on a woodstove. Nostalgia rocks!

    • jharris2

    • 2/11/2008

  • Yes... this is very old. The eggshells clarify the coffee. If your power goes out, and you have a gas stove.. this will keep you going. OR.. drag out your old camp stove.

    • Anonymous

    • San Mateo, CA

    • 1/7/2008

  • Had to make this the other day....my expresso machine actually blew up!! then I remembered my DAD used to make this on the stove; he called it "Camp Coffee" he had been a linesman in the Quebec north wilderness. he also added the sugar and milk to the pot. SO I did ...and it was actually very very creamy and good. however I did get a new coffee pot for Christmas.. lol lol

    • Plaisham

    • 1/3/2008

  • Nostalgia perhaps? This is exactly the way my Grandma Dora used to make coffee!

    • blkhoney88

    • Indiana

    • 1/3/2008

  • eggshells???C'mon...that just isn't right. and why bother when you can push the brew button!

    • Anonymous

    • charlotte, NC

    • 1/2/2008

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