How to Prepare Your CoffeeGerman Pharisäer
The Pharisäer is a North Sea secret served in a tall cup. On the island of Nordstrand, a measure of rum goes into the bottom of a warmed cup, hot sweet coffee follows, and a dome of thick whipped cream seals it — so the drink looks like innocent coffee and cream and tastes like something the temperance society would not approve of. Legend has it that in the nineteenth century a strict, ascetic pastor, a pharisee of temperance, was the guest of honour at a gathering on Nordstrand, and his host hid the rum beneath the cream so he would enjoy it unknowingly; someone tipped the secret, he cried 'Oh, you pharisees!' and the name stuck. Whatever the true story, the discipline is real: the cream must hide the rum until the first sip breaks through.
Ratio breakdown
Ingredients run from the top of the cup to the bottom; the last item is the bottom layer. Values are normalized to a true 100% stack.
What you need
- 4 cl (40 ml) brown rumRum
- 1 sugar cube (about 1 teaspoon)Sugar
- thick cap of whipped creamCream
- 200 ml strong filterCoffee
Method notes
- Grind
- Medium — filter grind
- Water temperature
- Hot
- Total time
- 5 min
Steps
Warm the cup
A cold cup steals heat from the coffee and the cream alike; a cup warmed with hot water and emptied keeps the whole drink at the temperature it was built for, so the cream holds its dome to the last sip.
Sugar and coffee into the cup
The sugar cube dissolves into the hot coffee before the cream seals the surface, so the sweetness is carried through the whole drink rather than pooling beneath the whipped cap.
Pour the rum in
The rum joins the hot, sweet coffee so it warms and loosens, and so the cream that follows has something to seal over; an honest 4 cl is what takes the cup from coffee-and-cream to Pharisäer.
Cap with thick whipped cream, and never stir
The cream is the disguise — whipped thick enough to dome and hold, it hides the rum from the eye until the first sip, which is the whole point of the drink on Nordstrand. Stirring collapses the seal and turns the secret into a latte, and convention says the offender buys a round.
Tips
- Serve it in a proper Pharisäer cup — the tall, cup-shaped cup and saucer with a small handle are part of the ritual on Nordstrand, and the handle spares the fingers as the cream holds the heat.
- Whip the cream stiff, not soft — the cap must stand, not sink; a soft cream pours down through the coffee and gives the secret away before the first sip.
Common mistakes
- Stirring — stirring breaks the cream seal, hides the secret from no one, and muddles the layers the drink is built on; the Pharisäer is never stirred, and anyone who stirs theirs in a restaurant may be asked to buy the next round.
- Whipping the cream too soft — a runny cream sinks straight into the coffee instead of doming over it, and the rum floats free at the surface, giving the whole trick away before the cream was ever meant to.
FAQ
What is the legend behind the name?
On Nordstrand, so the story goes, in the nineteenth century a strict, teetotal pastor — a 'pharisee' — was the guest of honour at a gathering, and the host served his coffee laced with rum beneath a thick cream cap so he would enjoy it unknowingly. When the trick came out, he cried 'Oh, you pharisees!' and the drink was named after him. The island serves it proudly, legend intact.
How much rum makes a genuine Pharisäer?
In the celebrated 'Pharisäer-Streit' of 1981, the Flensburg local court ruled that 2 cl of rum were not enough to make a genuine Pharisäer — the drink tasted 'fade and uninspired' at that dose. A proper cup needs an honest shot, about 4 cl, the measure German recipe books count in centilitres, so the rum is best measured, not poured.
Is the Pharisäer the same as Irish coffee or Rüdesheimer Kaffee?
All three are coffee, spirit, and whipped cream — the differences are the spirit and the proportions. Irish coffee uses Irish whiskey, the Rüdesheimer Kaffee uses brandy from the Rhine town that gave it its name, and the Pharisäer insists on brown rum. Same architecture, three different liquor cabinets.
The Atlas
Help keep this preparation honest
The Atlas is only as trustworthy as the sources behind it. If a step on this page is off — or you know a preparation that belongs here — tell us. Two references is all we ask.