Einspanner
EinspännerINE-shpen-er
Strong black coffee in a glass, buried under a thick layer of cold whipped cream that you drink the coffee through. Hot and bitter below, cold and sweet on top, and it is not to be stirred.
At a glance
- Coffee : cream
- 1:1
- Active time
- 4 min
- Total time
- 5 min
- Makes
- 1 glass
- Serve
- Hot, with cold cream
- Kit
- Espresso machine
Ingredients
Note: Vienna uses Schlagobers, unsweetened or very lightly sweetened whipped cream. Spray cream collapses into the coffee in seconds.
Method
-
Whip the cream softly
Whip the cold cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks, firm enough to hold a shape on a spoon but still smooth.
Over-whipped cream is stiff and grainy and sits on the coffee like a hat. Soft peaks float and give slightly.
Whip 2 minutes -
Warm the glass
Rinse a tall glass with hot water.
-
Pull the coffee
Pull a double espresso, or two singles, into the glass. You want about 60 ml of strong black coffee.
25 to 30 seconds -
Spoon the cream on top
Spoon the cream over the coffee in a thick layer, as deep as the coffee, using the back of the spoon to lay it on so it floats. Dust with icing sugar.
Serve with a glass of water, Viennese style. Drink through the cream.
Why this works
The drink is built on a contrast of temperature and taste. Cold, softly whipped cream floats on hot black coffee because it is full of air and therefore far lighter. Drunk through the cream, each sip brings cold sweetness first and then hot bitterness, and the cream slowly melts at the boundary into a thin layer of coffee and cream mixed. Stir it and you have a milky coffee with bits in it.
Soft peaks are right for a structural reason. Whipped cream is held up by fat globules that partly crystallise and link together around air bubbles. Beat it too long and the fat joins up into clumps, the cream turns stiff and grainy and starts heading towards butter. That cream sits rigidly on the coffee and does not melt into it gracefully. Softly whipped cream has a looser network that floats, gives, and melts slowly.
The coffee needs to be strong. Viennese coffeehouses use a Mokka, a strong espresso-style coffee, often doubled, because a weak coffee under that much cream tastes only of cream.
The name means one-horse carriage, and the usual story is that it was drunk by the drivers of Vienna's one-horse cabs, who could hold the glass in one hand and the reins in the other while the cream kept the coffee warm and stopped it spilling. Like many coffeehouse stories it is more charming than documented. In recent years the Einspänner has had a second life in South Korea, where it is one of the most popular café drinks under the name aindbeu.
Variations
- With icing sugar dusted on top: the most common Viennese finish.
- With cocoa: a dusting of cocoa on the cream.
- Iced Einspänner: cold coffee over ice under the same cream, popular in Seoul.
- Kaisermelange: coffee with egg yolk and honey, a much richer imperial relative.
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Questions
What is an Einspänner?
A Viennese coffee: a double mocca in a glass under a thick cap of whipped cream, drunk without stirring.
Should you stir an Einspänner?
No. It is drunk through the cream so that each sip is cold cream then hot coffee. Stirring turns it into a milky coffee.
What does Einspänner mean?
One-horse carriage. The usual story is that Vienna's carriage drivers drank it, holding the glass in one hand.
What is the difference between an Einspänner and a Wiener Melange?
An Einspänner is black coffee with whipped cream on top. A Wiener Melange is coffee with steamed milk and milk foam, closer to a cappuccino.