- Home
Want some caffeine with your booze? Try these coffee co*cktail recipes
ByMark Stock
Hats off to the genius who first mixed caffeine with alcohol. The combination often works wonders, easing the bitterness of coffee until it becomes a well-integrated and enjoyable co*cktail.
Better, coffee co*cktails are great year-round. And because there are various options, from standard joe to coffee liqueurs and coffee beers, there’s room for all kinds of experimentation. That’s not to say everything just magically blends well with java. Because coffee is built around a backbone of earthy, roasted, often nutty notes, you can’t just go throwing pink wine or any old infused vodka at the stuff. Think complementary notes, like coconut, chocolate, toffee, and more.
Recommended Videos
Here are some outstanding coffee co*cktails to try.
Bossk’s Banana Blaster
This co*cktail uses bananas, an underused ingredient when it comes to mixology. The result is a decidedly tropical drink with a kick of caffeine.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 ounce dark creme de cacao
- 1/2 ounce Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur
- 3/4 ounce The Perfect Puree Banana Puree, thawed
- 3 ounces coffee
- Whipped cream
- Yellow sprinkles and a banana chip for garnish
Method:
- Add all ingredients in a coffee cup.
- Garnish with whipped cream, yellow sprinkles, and a banana chip.
Three-Card Monte
A classy coffee co*cktail indeed, the three-card monte benefits from the eucalyptus, citrus, and vanilla bean notes of one of Italy’s most famous amaro options.
Ingredients:
- 1 ounce Mr. Black Cold Brew Liqueur
- 1 ounce brandy
- 1 ounce Amaro Montenegro
- Chartreuse or genepy rinse
- Orange peel for garnish
Method:
- Add all of the ingredients in a mixer glass.
- Stir and strain into a coupe glass.
- Garnish with orange peel.
White Russian
Sure, you can go the way of Lebowski and mix up a mediocre White Russian with the expected ingredients, but we prefer something a bit classier, like this riff on the classic co*cktail.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 ounces Absolut Elyx Vodka
- 1 ounce Caffe Lolita Coffee Liqueur
- 1 ounce half-and-half
- 3 coffee beans for garnish
Method:
- Combine the vodka and liqueur in a glass and fill it with ice cubes, stirring briefly.
- Layer half-and-half on top and garnish with the coffee beans.
The Double-Shot Martini
Milk works fine with this martini, but we suggest the heft of half-and-half for a little extra richness and to really fuse the tequila and coffee notes.
Ingredients:
- 5 parts Avión Espresso
- 1 part milk or half-and-half
- Espresso beans for garnish
Method:
- Add all ingredients to a co*cktail shaker.
- Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.
- Garnish with 1-3 espresso beans.
Mole y Avión Espresso
Essentially hot chocolate for grown-ups, this easy-to-assemble drink will warm your soul.
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces Avión Espresso
- 1 ounce premium hot chocolate
- Fresh whipped cream and mint leaf for garnish
Method:
- Combine ingredients in a heat-safe glass glass and heat.
- Garnish with fresh whipped cream and a mint leaf.
The Afterhours
Sometimes, you just want a few sips of something to cap a meal or an evening with friends, especially if it packs the kind of punch that tequila and espresso do.
Ingredients:
- 2 parts Avión Anejo
- 1 part Avión Espresso
Method:
- Pour ingredients into a rocks glass over ice and stir.
Paradise Stout
The right kind of sherry can blend beautifully with coffee, as is the case with this layered co*cktail.
- 3 ounces coffee stout
- 1 ounce Jamaican rum
- 1 ounce Pedro Ximénez sherry
- 2 dashes of chocolate bitters
- 1 whole egg
- Grated nutmeg for garnish
Method:
- Add all ingredients except the stout to a co*cktail shaker without ice.
- Dry shake to mix, and then add ice to the shaker.
- Hard shake the iced mixture, and strain into a snifter.
- Top with nitro stout.
- Garnish with grated nutmeg.
NitroCoffeeFloat
An excellent evening sipper, this dessert-in-a-glass blends all the great things — beer, amaro, and coffee.
- 4-6 ounces Nitro coffee stout
- 3/4 ounce Frangelico
- 3/4 ounce Braulio (or favorite amaro)
- 1 ounce cold brew coffee
- Ice cream and condiments
Method:
- Add ingredients to a co*cktail shaker.
- Shake and strain into pilsner glass.
- Top 3/4 of the way with nitro coffee stout.
- Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Garnish with crushed hazelnuts and/or whipped cream, sprinkles, cherry, and chocolate.
Turbo Prop
This coffee co*cktail gets a kiss on the cheek from the Mediterranean thanks to the addition of Aperol, along with some added floral notes via rose water.
- 1 ounce Mr. Black Cold Brew Liqueur
- 1 ounce bourbon
- 1 ounce Aperol
- 1 ounce lemon juice
- 1 dash rose water
Method:
- Add ingredients to a co*cktail shaker.
- Shake and strain into a coupe glass.
- Garnish with lemon zest.
Coffee Martini
What could be better than a classic martini mixed with the deep, rich flavors of coffee? This take on the martini is made with vodka and coffee liqueur, and it has a slight sweetness thanks to the addition of simple syrup. It’s a drink that’s perfect any time of day.
(Recipe from Liquor.com)
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces vodka
- 1/2 ounce coffee liqueur (such as Kahlua)
- 1 ounce freshly brewed espresso (you can also use cold brew concentrate)
- 1/4 ounce simple syrup
- Coffee beans for garnish
Method:
- Fill a co*cktail shaker with ice.
- Add the vodka, espresso (or cold brew concentrate), and shake it until it’s well chilled.
- Strain the mixture into a chilled co*cktail glass.
- Garnish with the coffee beans.
Editors’ Recommendations
- A gin aged in rum barrels for the best of both taste worlds
- Bartenders say these are the most overrated bourbon co*cktails
- Neat or in a co*cktail, there’s a style of Scotch for everyone
- This is officially the World’s Best Bar
- Cheer the opening of the Olympics with these themed co*cktails
Topics
- Recipes
Mark Stock
Contributor
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
The best bourbon for an Old Fashioned: Our top picks
Great bourbons to mixed into an Old Fashioned
If there were a hierarchy of classic co*cktails, it would not be easy to rank drinks like the Martini, Daiquiri, and Mint Julep. Luckily, we don’t have to. We can love them all. It does get easier if you’re going to list the top co*cktails based on the base spirit alone. If you’re going to attempt to make a list of the top whiskey mixed drinks, we can all agree that (along with the Manhattan), there are few whiskey-based co*cktails more beloved than the iconic Old Fashioned.
Read more
Try these fruity, complex co*cktails for National Tequila Day
Three delicious and unusual co*cktails to up your tequila game
Today is National Tequila Day, and there's never been a better time to get into tequila. If you haven't touched the stuff since your college days, you might be surprised by what modern craft tequilas have evolved into. While you'll still find your dubious mixtos on supermarket shelves, there are also a huge range of high quality, sustainably produced tequilas which use traditional methods and ingredients.
There's also plenty of ways to drink tequila other than the obligatory slammers. Fine tequilas can be sipped neat, and it can be used in many co*cktails. There are the classics that you'll find in many bars -- margaritas, palomas, and mexican mules are perrenial favorites -- but that's just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with tequila.
Read more
Cool cold brew coffee co*cktail recipes for the summer
Blend coffee with rum, Averna, and fruit juices with this Curtain Call recipe
While coffee has a great flavor that fits well in deserts, baking, and co*cktails, it isn't always the easiest ingredient to use to mix drinks. You get your classic hot coffee drinks like the Irish Coffee, but when you want a cold drink then using hot coffee can be awkward. Firstly, you need to chill it down or it'll melt all your ice too fast and make the drink watery, and secondly, coffee which tastes great when it's hot can taste bitter or flat once it's cooled down.
That's why I like to use cold brew coffee for mixing co*cktails. You can easily prepare this ahead of time yourself -- just make sure to brew your coffee stronger than you usually would so that it can stand up to strong liquors (you can always add water if you want to drink it on its own). But another option is to use a coffee liqueur like Mr Black. It's a vodka-based liqueur made with real coffee, and it is most often seen in the espresso martini.
Read more