Heavy cream in coffee: a perfect match?

Hm, heavy cream in your coffee. We all like it as a way to finish our evening when eating out or just to reward ourselves for our hard workweek.

There are a lot of coffee fans that love cream in your coffee. Is coffee and heavy cream a match made in heaven?

Yes, it is! You must of course be reasonable in your portions but heavy cream is known to increase the flavor and texture of your coffee.

Read our post for a more detailed explanation about the match between coffee and heavy cream!

Why should you use heavy cream in your coffee?

It’s simple: for pleasure and an improved coffee experience. Adding heavy cream to your coffee means adding taste and body to your coffee.

A lot of people add sugar or other sweeteners like cinnamon, honey to their black coffee.

But for those who enjoy a super flavorful and creamy cup of coffee, heavy cream is the ingredient that will do the trick. If you add heavy cream, those people will avoid adding other sweeteners, reducing the amount of sugar in their cup.

I’m often surprised of the fact that large commercial coffee chains offer massive coffees with cream that’s not heavy cream at all. Often their effects are less because of the added sugars, sweeteners, and so on, making it a real calorie bom!

Heavy cream is not difficult to make and can also be used on other coffee brewing methods! Think about what you add to your coffee, if you’re in doubt please try to make heavy cream yourself and see for yourself!

How to make heavy cream at home?

You can use the following recipe as guidance in order to make heavy cream at home:

1/3rd cup of real butter (75 grams or 2.65 ounces)

2/3rd cup of whole milk (~160 ml or 5.41 fluid ounces)

The real butter needs to be melted, you can use a saucepan or microwave to do this.

These 2 components can be combined and mixed with a whisk or frother. You can store the heavy cream in a separate container and store in your fridge and let it rest for a few days.

How do heavy cream and coffee react to each other?

The heavy cream that’s added to your coffee can be an interesting process. The fat in the cream interacts with the aromas and flavors in your cup of coffee.

The flavors of your coffee will improve and have extra body. Of course you must add the right portions to your cup, after all we’re drinking coffee and not milk/cream.

When there’s too much heavy cream added, the coffee will be too dense and ruin your coffee experience, unless this is you’re goal from the beginning!

Are there any health benefits of heavy cream in coffee?

Yes, there are besides the increased flavor, texture and body of your coffee. Heavy cream has also a large nutrition, of course when consumed in the right proportion.

We know that heavy cream has about 35% fat content. In modern society there’s a lot of marketing for light products and substitutes replacing that “harmful” fat products like diary products.

We advise you to use common sense as with everything in your daily life. If you don’t overconsume this, neither in coffee nor in other parts of your daily life, heavy cream is actually good for you.

When we went to school, we could drink our daily glass of milk, coming right from the farm, providing us with large amounts of minerals like calcium, supportive for our bones and teeth and works as a good recovery drink and helps us recover.

However, heavy cream has a very high-fat content and therefore has a large energy value, meaning you can get an energy boost when drinking coffee with heavy cream!

Are there any health issues with heavy cream in coffee?

Yes, possibly. We refer to the what we’ve said before and consume the right amount of heavy cream. Don’t overdo it.

Heavy cream contains for about 35% fat, which is a lot, it also contains a lot of sugar so don’t add extra sugar to your cup, you really don’t need that.

You should be careful as it contains a lot of calories, about 100 per ounce of heavy cream.

If you’re unsure, you can contact your doctor for medical advice but we like to say that, if consumed in responsible portions, it’s not that harmful.

How much heavy cream should you use?

Adding heavy cream upgrades your coffee experience by a lot and can be a nice way to finish your lunch or meal. If consumed in the right portions, there’s no immediate risk to your health and it improves your coffee flavor and adds more body to your cup.

We advise you to use 1 to 2 tablespoons of heavy cream in your cup of coffee. There are a lot of coffees that are made with heavy cream.

Three popular coffees with heavy cream?

There are a lot of popular coffees that consist of heavy cream. These coffees are espresso-based and often use milk to balance the strong and intense taste of espresso.

These coffees are brewed in different coffee-to-water ratios.

The tastes and flavors of these coffees with heavy whipping cream can depend on the ratios you use while brewing.

Macchiato:

Macchiato can be traced back to Italy in the 20th century. It’s a drink that’s made with espresso, steamed milk and foam. Macchiato is Italian for “marked”.

Just to know: if you’re in Italy or around, when you ask for a macchiato you’ll mostly receive the “right” macchiato or espresso macchiatto, if you order a macchiato outside Italy and/or in commercial chains like Starbucks, you’ll get mostly the latte macchiato. It’s the latte macchiato that can be made with heavy cream.

Cappuccino:

A cappuccino is an espresso-based coffee that has 3 equal parts of espresso, steamed milk, and steamed foam. When the cappuccino was made in the right way, you’ll see from top to bottom: foam, milk, and espresso, all in equal parts.

Frappe:

A frappe can also be called iced coffee and can also be made with heavy cream and put in other things like chocolate syrup or other sweeteners.

Can you make iced coffee with heavy cream?

Yes of course. We always say, when things taste good separately they mostly taste good together. We’ve already given the example of the frappe and gives a lot of flexibility. You’ll be surprised how great it can taste and be refreshing in the hot summer months!

F.A.Q.

Is it good to use heavy cream in coffee?

Yes, we advise you to make your heavy cream at home and use it in your coffee, be it hot brew cold brew. Don’t consume too large portions as with most things in life. Generally, heavy cream can enrich the flavor and body of your coffee.

Can I use heavy cream instead of milk in coffee?

Yes. People who are fond of milk will mostly be also fond of heavy cream in coffee. People buy this in the store and pay way too much money for it but it can be made simply at home and consists of butter (1/3rd) and whole milk (2/3rd). Try and tweak this for the best result.

Is heavy cream unhealthy?

Heavy cream contains a lot of fat, about 35%. If consumed in large portions, it will be a calorie bomb! It’s also full of healthy minerals like calcium for the human body. Just don’t overconsume it as with most things. Adding heavy cream to your coffee can prevent people from adding extra sugars or other sweeteners to your coffee.

Conclusion

We all agree that heavy cream can be a great pleasure for most people. For some people, it might even be decadent and really unhealthy. There will be always be room for debate and believers and disbelievers.

Making heavy cream isn’t that hard and can be much better and cheaper when bought in the store. It can be a great change to fans of milk-based espresso coffees.

Adding heavy cream can greatly improve your coffee flavors and give extra body to your cup. People who use heavy cream, can also think about not adding sugars or other sweeteners.

Try this and tweak the amount of heavy cream added to your cup for the best results!

Enjoy your coffee!