Coffee in Good Spirits

Coffee with alcohol? Why not!

I managed to persuade this gentleman here (left in photo) to write a bit about pairing coffee with good quality spirits. I had the pleasure of helping with both of Michal's starts for the Polish Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, it was time well spent, and not just because Michal made good cocktails and I drank them... 😉 I invite you to read on.

Robert Rybczynski.

Synergy and idea - the key to the perfect recipe

A+B=C - "The interaction of different factors, the effect of which is greater than the sum of the individual separate actions." This is the general concept of synergy, a term that accompanies me every time I prepare a new coffee cocktail recipe. Translating this formula into the language of a barista or bartender, synergy is the combination of coffee and alcohol in such a way as to make two different ingredients into a cocktail in which we get new notes that are not perceptible in each of the ingredients separately. For example, by combining a natural Ethiopia with perceptible notes of strawberries and blueberries with a Jamaican rum with caramel notes, we get a cocktail in which we sense tropical fruits. When I first tasted an espresso martini, I was convinced that all coffee cocktails tasted similar - more dessert than dry or fruity. It was hard for me to imagine a combination of coffee and alcohol with anything more than notes of chocolate and nuts. With help came the Coffee Jump competition organised by one of Warsaw's coffee roasters, in which I decided to try my hand. I was a barista in a cocktail bar by day, so I was also exposed not only to great coffee, but also to the best spirits. I had an idea - I wanted to make a fruity coffee cocktail. The only question was: how to make it? Here, a fellow bartender who had competed in many competitions came to my rescue. The buzzword was synergy and experimentation. I once heard during a training course that nothing good would come out of combining coffee and citrus. Nothing could be further from the truth! To create a unique coffee cocktail, we need to be open to experimentation. This often comes with difficulty for baristas, as they only work with coffee in simple combinations with other ingredients on a daily basis. They are looking for a way to make the perfect cup of coffee, often simply afraid to step outside the box. It is different with bartenders. Their imagination and desire to seek out new sensory experiences means that even experimenting with coffee is no problem for them. Provided, of course, that they can prepare it correctly ?

In search of a recipe... But where to start in the search for a recipe, for a coffee cocktail? Synergy is one thing, here we need to know what goes with what and how to combine it. But for this to happen, we need to have an idea: for the cocktail, the presentation, the ingredients used. For baristas, I recommend visits to cocktail bars where, in addition to knowledge of classic cocktails, we can acquire a lot of inspiration for combining coffee with alcohol. For bartenders, on the other hand, I recommend cupping, where we can broaden our coffee knowledge and learn about the often unknown faces of coffee. While preparing for the 2019 Coffee in Good Spirits Polish Championships, I returned with memories to one of my trips. Flying out of chilly Warsaw and landing in hot Milan, I thought it would be great to start such a journey with something that would stimulate and warm me up at the same time, and end with something refreshing. My world revolves around coffee, so all I had to do for my idea was choose the right coffee and brewing method. I'm a big fan of naturally processed coffees, which work well for both espresso and pour-over methods. The choice was Ethiopia Guji roasted by Story Coffee Roasters. For the warm cocktail, I brewed the coffee in a Clever dripper, which allowed me to achieve an intense yet clean brew. For the cold cocktail, on the other hand, I used espresso, which, combined with all the ingredients and the preparation method, allowed me to achieve a creamy and velvety texture. So an idea was born, to which I needed to add a few ingredients and give everything a synergy. In the warm drink, mixing hot filtered coffee with gin, angustura and Cascara syrup, I achieved a cocktail with a dry character, with aniseed flavours, notes of cherries and a cola finish, great for autumn evenings. The cold drink was a combination of many ingredients: fruity espresso, Colombian rum, passion fruit liqueur, lime juice apricot syrup and an IPA beer. The combination of all these ingredients resulted in a refreshing coffee cocktail with noticeable notes of peaches and tropical fruits such as lychee and pineapple. The unobvious combinations were dressed up in a coherent whole, creating a presentation and, importantly, cocktails that we can easily make at home.

The most underrated coffee cocktail - Irish Coffee

Ireland, 1943, Foynes Port airbase - this is where the story of the creation of the most popular coffee cocktail begins. One cold winter evening, a PanAm airline plane bound for the US was turned back due to poor weather conditions. Joe Sherdian, the airport manager, decided to warm up the travellers waiting to leave with a hot coffee with Irish whiskey and cream. One passenger, delighted with the taste of the prepared beverage asked Sheridian if the coffee he had prepared was from Brazil, to which he was to be answered: "No, this is Irish Coffee". The cocktail rose to fame in 1952 when Stanton Delaplane, a journalist writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, passed on the recipe for Irish Coffee to the Buena Vista Café bar in San Francisco (where, to this day, the best Irish Coffee in the world is reportedly served). The cocktail became a hit, and Buena Vista Cafe serves around 2,000 Irish Coffee a day !

Do it at home!

Making a great Irish Coffee (even at home) is not complicated. The classic recipe is about 150ml of pour-over coffee (it is worth making sure here that the coffee is a little more intense than the standard), 30-40ml of whisky, 10-15ml of sugar syrup and about 40ml of 30-36% cream. Pour the coffee, whisky and sugar into a glass (220-240ml), stir and on top, gently, preferably a teaspoon at a time, pour in the previously aerated (gently whipped) cream. Simple right? Well, not necessarily. Balance is an extremely important aspect in Irish Coffee. It is very important that neither alcohol nor coffee dominates the cocktail, that the drink is not too sweet and that there is not too much cream. Which whisky to use? The one you like best! Increasingly, bartenders or baristas are using Scotch or Bourbons instead of Irish whiskey. When using Irish whiskey, keep in mind that due to the fact that it is triple distilled, it is very delicate and therefore easily "lost" throughout the drink. Bourbon will give the cocktail more sweetness, Scotch whisky on the other hand will (usually), give the drink intensity ? Sugar syrup ? Most often in a 2-1 ratio - 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. I personally recommend using demerara cane sugar, which combines very well with coffee and whisky. And now for the most important ingredient - coffee. Which one to choose for the perfect Irish Coffee? How do you brew it? First of all, for Irish Coffee we use pour-over coffee! To ensure that the coffee doesn't "die" you need to brew an intense brew, so here it is worth increasing the ratio of coffee to water used. The mystical 6/100 should be changed to 8/100, i.e. for one serving (150ml) we use about 12g of coffee. The coffee can be brewed from any machine, whether it is an Aeropress, a V60 dripper or simply a pour-over machine. Which coffee to choose? Here, depending on your preferences. Choosing wet-processed coffees will give you a clean, clarified brew with more acidity, while choosing natural-processed coffees will give you more sweetness and intensity. Personally, for Irish Coffee I love to use :naturali: from Ethiopia - combined with a good whisky, they guarantee a huge sensory experience ? The last element is the cream, 30 or 36%. The cream should be cold (2-4 degrees C) and aerated (scooped). What is most important in Irish Coffee is the so-called 'cut', or separation of the cream from the other ingredients. To achieve it, the cream is poured gently, one teaspoon at a time, close to the rim of the glass. Flavour notes that can be found in a classic, well-made Irish Coffee include chocolate, caramel, nuts or almonds. To achieve this effect, try Tulamore Irish Whiskey and Coffee Salvador La Independencia San Francisco. If you want more action and fruitiness in your Irish Coffee use Glendfiddich 12yo Scotch whisky and coffee Kenya Kibirigwi Ragati.

Recipes

Warm cocktail – Airport coffee

Transfer coffee 80ml

Costa Rica Finca la Amada brewing method: clever, grind as for the drip, 1 min pour and set aside, total brewing time 3 min

20ml Colambian Treasure Aged Gin

15m cascara syrup (60g, 100g sugar, 100ml water, boil everything while stirring and strain through a sieve)

4 dash Angustura (6 drops) Mix all ingredients and serve in a tall glass

photo. Arthur Bubienko / My Fotograf_ja

Summer coffee beer

Double espresso

Honduras Caballero - El Pantanal #2, dose 18g, yield 40g, brewing time 30s

30ml 12yo Dictador Rum

10ml passion fruit liqueur

10ml lime juice

10ml apricot syrup

Top up beer IPA All ingredients (except beer), pour into a tall glass by pouring through a double strainer and top up with beer

photo. Arthur Bubienko / My Fotograf_ja

Irish Coffee

150ml of coffee Colombia Villa Clabelina #1
(Aeropress, invert, 18g, grind as for drip, 50ml 30s preinfusion, add 100ml water, stir, squeeze after 2 min)

30ml Glendfiddich 12yo

15ml demerara cane sugar syrup (ratio 1.75:1)

Top up cream of łowicka 36%

Michal Ziemlewicz

Dalla Corte Brand Manager, BEST CS

Vice Polish Champion Coffee in Good Spirits 2019, Barista and trainer, passionate about espresso AND coffee cocktails. I love experimenting with coffee, creating non-obvious combinations. I try to infect others with my knowledge and experience by introducing them to the world of coffee. Proud dad, fan of the Premier League, natural Ethiopia and Old Fashion.