Category — Tips

Making your own coffee-flavored liqueur is actually much easier than it sounds. While your results may not be on the level of proper Kahlua or Bailey’s at first, the beauty of this simple recipe is both in how simple it is to make and how versatile it is to experiment with.

The essential idea behind a basic coffee liqueur is to make what’s called “simple syrup” (1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part boiling water), but using double-brewed coffee instead of water. Then infuse it with a high-proof alcohol such as vodka and add flavor extract. Sound simple? It is!

Here’s most everything you’ll need to get started:

• 1 part water
• 1 part coffee grounds, ground for cone filter
• 1 part brown sugar
• 1 part vodka (90+ proof)
• a few drops of vanilla extract
• mesh or cone filter for the coffee

1. Start by boiling water for the coffee on a stovetop.
2. Put the coffee in the filter and pour the boiling water over it slowly. I simply opened the top of my coffee machine put the coffee in the mesh filter, and poured the water directly over the grounds, letting it brew into the carafe.
3. Quickly take the brew you just produced and pour it back over the grounds a second time. You’ll need two cups/carafes to do this, since the filter needs to go back over the carafe you just used as you pour the brew back in. This will produce a very strong concentrate of coffee.
4. While the brew is still hot, immediately add the brown sugar and stir to dissolve.
5. Add 2-3 drops of vanilla extract for every 8oz. of brew you use, and stir in.
6. Add the vodka and stir.
7. Pour the entire mixture into a bottle and cap tightly. Put in the fridge for a few days so it can infuse.

That’s all there is to it. Feel free to take this recipe and experiment with it–use light rum instead of vodka, for example, or use almond extract instead of vanilla to make amaretto liqueur, or mix in one part unsweetened cocoa powder to make a mocha liqueur. There’s a ton of possibilities.

Occasionally on this blog I post drink ideas such as the Cafe Cubano and the Dufrain. Though I get ideas from all over, I like to experiment on my own from time to time with making new types of drinks. Sometimes they work out, and I’ll continue to share ideas on this blog as I discover them. Sometimes they don’t work out. Just for fun, I thought I’d share some drink ideas I experimented with that didn’t come out as I’d hoped.

• Brewing star anise with the coffee grounds–When coffee became scarce and expensive in New Orleans in the early 20th century, many turned to adding chicory root to stretch out their coffee rations despite its unpleasant taste. In that spirit I tried using unpodded star anise to add a rich licorice flavor to my coffee brew. Unfortunately the result came out something like dirty, sour tea. (For the record, anise makes a great tisane by itself.)
• The “tequilatte”–some liquors complement coffee very well. Tequila is not really one of them. In the interest of full disclosure here, I’m not a huge tequila fan. Patron makes a coffee liqueur that’s acceptable, but since I feel like adding coffee-flavored liqueur to coffee is kind of cheating, I used regular tequila. It was…okay in coffee by itself, but adding it to a latte? Blech.
• Vanilla extract and sugar in place of vanilla syrup–I typically prefer my coffee black, but that’s not to say I don’t enjoy sugar or syrups occasionally. In a rush one morning I noticed I was out of vanilla syrup, so I hurriedly used a packet of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract instead. Basically the same thing, right? It wasn’t the same.
• Irish espresso–a macchiatto is just an espresso with a dollop of milk, so I thought replacing the milk with irish cream would be a home run. Unfortunately the thickness of Bailey’s turned the result to a dense sludge. It actually didn’t taste that bad, but its cough-syrup-like consistency was off-putting.

If you make espresso at home, here’s a tip I ran across courtesy of World Barista Championship runner-up Pete Licata. It’s called the “PT flip”, named for PT’s Coffee Company in Topeka, KS, where Pete works.

Essentially it’s just pulling your shot into a pre-heated shot glass, then pouring (”flipping”) it into another demitasse, causing the layers of the shot to mix (the first shot glass is preheated to prevent temperature roll-off when the shot goes into the new glass):

I would encourage everyone to try the “PT’s flip” as we have been calling it. Pull a double shot, one straight into a demi and the other into a preheated shot glass and pour it into a second demi and try them side by side. Doing a blind tasting is even better. You might just be amazed that both shots, especially on that first sip, came from the same portafilter.

Espresso is a layered drink, and the bottom of the shot doesn’t often taste like the top or crema of the shot. Flipping the shot mixes the sediments and crema to produce a consistent, nuanced flavor all the way through.

You don’t necessarily want to do this all the time, of course–one of the pleasures of tasting is in how the flavor on the palette changes throughout the shot as certain flavors give way to others. But it can be a boon for many blends as it’ll smooth out some shots, and Pete had great success with the technique in barista competitions, so feel free to give it a try.