Tri-Color Coffee: Irish Coffee, Italian Coffee, Mexican Coffee (Cold Brew)

Winter is upon the land, and that ironic hipster scarf is all of a sudden totally functional.  Don't worry, you can just tell people you are warm "ironically" and such.

There is no better accessory to winter than a hot beverage, and there is no better hot beverage than something with booze in it.   To that end we have a tri-color tri-fecta of internationally inspired coffee concoctions.  

While it can be fun to get all crazy with espresso weirdness and some special liqueur which is only made on Tuesdays with a full moon on just one mountain in the Pyrenees, we have chosen to forgo such endeavors to bring you recipes that are actually easy to pull off at home with ingredients that are widely available. 

You'll also notice that we are using very thick Chantilly Cream as a topping for most of these.  That is what the cream and vanilla are for in the below image.  We use this because these drinka are meant to serve as dessert beverages (or just as desserts themselves) and so that cream is actually meant to be primarily consumed via a spoon with only the residual stirred into the drink.  You'll notice however we do not do that in our Cappuccino variant in the Italian section.





As you can see, we are once again using the ever-present "Irish Coffee Mug" of the transparent variety.  While in reality we actually don't like these things, because it is transparent it will allow you, the audience to actually see what's going on in drink construction.  Large ceramic mugs which are pre-warmed are much better at keeping these selections warm, as the thinner glass mugs conduct heat too quickly. 



Link to our original Coffee Episode.

Irish Coffee

Éirinn go Brách

What we use:
Booze: Jameson Irish Whiskey
Coffee: Kenya AA French Roast.
Chantilly Cream
Sugar
Nutmeg/Cinnamon/Whatever other spices you might like.
























Instant coffee = Evil.





That's nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove pictured there.  For holiday times some green sugar sprinkled on top looks nice as well.  We don't have any so that's why it's not here.

Italian Coffee

Mama Mia

What we use:
Booze: Romana Sambuca
Coffee: Kenya AA French Roast.
Chantilly Cream
Sugar
Nutmeg/Cinnamon/Whatever 

While "Italian coffee" like this is more of an American invention and staple of Greek diners all over the North East, it is based on the Sambuca variation of the Italian Caffè Corretto.













This is a basic wet cappuccino with Frangelico added to the espresso before the milk is added.  Frangelico is a hazelnut flavored liqueur and is great for using in desserts and sweet sauces.   It also pairs with Eggnog very nicely.

Mexican Coffee

"Dammit Mexico, get your own flag."  -Italy
Now there are all kinds of versions of this out there.  Every Mexican resturant and wanna-be clebrity chef has some sort of take on "Mexican Coffee" which oddly enough usually does not involve coffee actually grown in Mexico. 

We bring you Café Iguana.  A Mexican Coffee dessert cocktail formerly served at The Iguana Club in New York.  They still have it on the menu, but now they just use Parton XO and not their special stash of coffee infused reposado.  That's still quite good, but not exactly the same, and since Patron XO seems to be obscenely expensive, this will help you make the exact same thing out of more competitively priced Tequila labels.

This recipe calls for regular coffee as well as espresso powder.
For the regular coffee we are going to use Costa Rican Tarazu. As for the espresso powder is just a house-blend but remember it's the grind that's important here, and you want a fine espresso grind.









Cold-brew is a process that, if you do it with Tequila, you eliminate the need to have Kahlua in this mix.  This is very similar to what we did with orange infused Tequila in our Margarita.





Cold-brew will give you a bitter product, it just will.  This is why we recommend adding at least a quarter cup of sugar to the jar and shaking it up so it dissolves.  Anywhere from 1-6 hours later you can filter it out and you're left with some hard core coffee Tequila.  Tequila Coffee... TeqCofee.












You can also add cocoa and spices to the coffee itself.  If you are thinking of doing that, we recommend Jacques Torres's Wicked.  A blend of hot cocoa mix and hot Mexican pepper powder.




Cold-brewing coffee with liquor is an amazing thing.  The end product is very different from simply adding booze to already made coffee.  Again, we can't stress enough that this process makes the end product quite bitter, so you will need to add sugar, there is simply no getting around that.  Also, don't go using your 12 year old Scotch or something like that for cold-brew coffee.  The brewing process is going to change the taste, and so platinum quality spirits are not something you need to make this as best as it can be.  That being said, don't go with the bulk stuff either (except light rum... then you can go get the Castillo you cheap bastard), but for anything else, get something nice that is made with care.

WARNING:

When cold-brewing coffee using Tequila, Vodka, Whiskey, Rum, or something similar, it is important to remember that because of the length of time the brewing process takes, the amount of caffeine extracted is going to be very high.  Also, the percentage of alcohol will not decrease from this process, meaning that what you are left with is a highly powerful substance that has the potential to really ruin your day.   This is the kind of thing you can drink way too much of without realizing it, so don't go filling up that jumbo cappuccino mug with straight coffee hooch and top it off with ready-whip... you will end up having to use the word "stroke" when people ask what the hell happened to you from that day forward.

Seriously, this stuff can pack a punch.

Coffee:

And when we say "provided by" we mean we just walk over there and buy some every week.  All coffee featured on Pinky Mixology comes from D'Amico Coffee Roasters of Brooklyn N.Y.  

Yes, before Brooklyn was trendy it was simply known as the place where at least 1 character in every WWII movie was from and that character wouldn't shut up about it.  And that kind of thing takes serious coffee roasted with old-world know-how and served up with new-world attitude.  This continues today with D'Amico Coffee.

D'Amico Coffee has their storefront on Court Street in oh-so trendy Brooklyn, where you can not only buy whole-bean and ground coffee, but ready-made hot and iced coffee, as well as the ubiquitous (in Brooklyn at least) Manhattan Special espresso coffee soda.  But don't stop reading just because you're a time zone away, they will expertly ship the coffee you need to just about anywhere.  If you have a business where you serve coffee, it should be this.  No.... stop talking, this is what you need.

You can order from their website:

www.damicofoods.com

Or check out their new catalog (.PDF):

NEXT TIME:

Next up, we go into the world of the most American of spirits, Applejack. Not just runner up for best pony (seriously, best pony is always Rainbow Dash), Applejack is a whiskey made entirely from fermented apple juice.  Sometimes oaked, sometimes not (it really should be though), it is seriously underrated and worth seeking out.  So get ready as we find an Applejack from every state that we can, and pit them against them each other in Pinky Mixology's first ever label review.  There will be cocktail recipes, food pairings, and plenty of shenanigans in the Pinky Mixology AppleJack-Off! 

Also, we will give away a T-shirt.

  


...wait ...oh we should have picked a different name.