Chef Klaus
Apfelschorle
Cloudy apple juice, sharp mineral water, and no sugar bowl: the German Schorle that belongs in school bags, beer gardens, picnic baskets, and the table when supper is quick.
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Eiskaffee
Created by
Cold strong coffee over proper vanilla ice cream, whipped cream on top, no bottled syrup doing the work. Eiskaffee is the German cafe dessert that happens to drink through a straw.
Beverages
German
Outdoor Dining
Special Occasion
15 min
Active Time
0 min cook•2 hr 15 min total
Yield4 servings
Eiskaffee belongs to the warm-weather German cafe table: city Konditorei, garden terrace, Sunday afternoon when cake would be too much and plain coffee not enough. It isn't owned by one region. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders: one cafe pours chilled filter coffee, another uses a short strong espresso stretched cold, the Rhineland may sweeten a little more, and the south often treats the whipped cream like it has rights of its own.
The technique is simple and it decides the whole glass: cool the coffee completely before it touches the ice cream. Warm coffee melts the vanilla before the spoon reaches the table, and then you've made sweet coffee soup. Brew it strong because the ice cream and cream soften the bitterness, chill it properly, then build the glass quickly.
Nicht aus dem Glas. No coffee syrup, no canned cream, no packet powder pretending to be a cafe. Good cold coffee, good vanilla ice cream, cream whipped soft enough to spoon, and a little shaved chocolate. That's the dish. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Eiskaffee spread through German-speaking cafe culture in the 20th century, when household refrigeration and commercial ice cream made a cold coffee dessert practical beyond large cafes and hotels. Its home is less a single region than the Konditorei and Eiscafe, the postwar city cafe where coffee, cake, and ice cream met on the same menu. The name can mislead English speakers: German Eiskaffee usually means coffee poured over ice cream, not coffee simply served over ice.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
strong brewed coffee
Quantity
600ml
cooled completely
sugar (optional)
Quantity
2 teaspoons
dissolved while the coffee is hot
good vanilla ice cream
Quantity
8 scoops
cold whipping cream
Quantity
250ml
vanilla sugar or icing sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dark chocolate
Quantity
30g
shaved or grated
wafer rolls (optional)
Quantity
4
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| strong brewed coffeecooled completely | 600ml |
| sugar (optional)dissolved while the coffee is hot | 2 teaspoons |
| good vanilla ice cream | 8 scoops |
| cold whipping cream | 250ml |
| vanilla sugar or icing sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| dark chocolateshaved or grated | 30g |
| wafer rolls (optional) | 4 |
Equipment Needed
- •Coffee maker or espresso pot
- •Tall glasses, 300ml to 400ml each
- •Hand whisk or electric mixer
- •Ice cream scoop
Instructions
- 1
Brew it strong
Brew 600ml coffee stronger than you would drink it hot, because ice cream and whipped cream will round off the bitterness. If you want sugar, stir it in now while the coffee is hot; cold coffee won't dissolve sugar cleanly, and grit at the bottom of the glass is not a recipe.
- 2
Chill completely
Let the coffee cool to room temperature, then refrigerate it until fully cold, at least 2 hours. Do not pour warm coffee over ice cream. It melts the scoops before they can hold their shape, and the glass turns thin and muddy.
- 3
Whip the cream
Whip the cold cream with the vanilla sugar until it forms soft spoonable peaks, not stiff lumps. Soft cream sits on the coffee and folds into it as you drink; overwhipped cream breaks grainy and tastes of effort.
- 4
Build the glasses
Put two scoops of vanilla ice cream into each tall chilled glass. Pour the cold coffee down the side so the scoops stay rounded and the coffee settles around them instead of knocking them apart.
- 5
Finish and serve
Spoon the whipped cream over the top, scatter with shaved chocolate, and add a wafer roll if you use one. Serve at once with a long spoon and a straw, because Eiskaffee waits for nobody. Das braucht seine Zeit only until the coffee is cold.
Chef Tips
- •Use vanilla ice cream with real dairy and visible vanilla if you can. The coffee is lean and bitter; the ice cream is the body of the drink.
- •Cold brew works if it is strong enough, but thin cold brew makes a flat Eiskaffee. Taste it before building the glass.
- •Chill the glasses for 15 minutes. Cold glass buys you a few extra minutes before the ice cream softens.
- •Chocolate shavings belong here. Chocolate sauce is a cafe choice, but use it lightly or it takes over the coffee.
Advance Preparation
- •Brew and chill the coffee up to 24 hours ahead; keep it covered so it doesn't pick up refrigerator smells.
- •Whip the cream up to 2 hours ahead and keep it cold, then whisk it briefly before spooning if it loosens.
- •Assemble only when serving. Once coffee meets ice cream, the clock is running.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 360g)
Calories
515 calories
Total Fat
35 g
Saturated Fat
22 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
120 mg
Sodium
120 mg
Total Carbohydrates
44 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
36 g
Protein
7 g
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