Alcohol and Coffee Drinks: Amaretto, Irish Whiskey and more

Drinks to Brighten a Dreary Winter Season

Designer coffees and the trendiest hot spot in your neighborhood notwithstanding: the key to a good cup of coffee is very subjective; and so is the choice in what to add to it when what you need is just a little more than the rich flavor and aroma of the precious bean itself. Coffee history has been well covered in the wikipedia site (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee) articles on coffee so I simply will not belabor that issue here. There are endless discussions of desirable flavors and perfect ways to elicit the best from the brew in magazines, on the web and even in some kitchens where tastes may differ enough to spark heated conversations so I won’t go into that either. 

What I want on a grey day when I am tired, cranky and my fingers are aching from the cold is my favorite coffee with alcohol in it. So choose your favorite bean, either Arabica or Robusta, be sure it is roasted to perfection and ground to your specifications and make a measure of coffee that can be used while the aromatic flavanoids are still in the coffee. This is where we will start. With your own favorite coffee, just right taste, just right temperature. 

The next step is also highly subjective. This involves a certain amount of sophistication perhaps but I have seen it done very handily by folks who think sophistication is something unspeakably racy that rich people do. Add your favorite alcohol to the coffee. Don’t just splash…well you can, and that has its advantages as well, but if you want consistent results measure the darn stuff cowboy. In case you don’t know where to start let me note for you that some alcohol seems to be made to pair with coffee; Amaretto, Crème de Cacao, and Rum come instantly to mind. Some are traditional in certain circles such as Irish whiskey with Coffee in what is known as (of course) Irish Coffee.