STiR coffee and tea magazine

46 STiR coffee and tea | 2025 Issue 1 Spring (Mar/Apr/May) By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson Invented in London in the 1980s, the invigorating Espresso Martini remains today's most popular coffee cocktail. The Diverse World of Coffee Liqueurs A time-honored coffee cocktail, the White Russian mixes vodka with Kahlùa coffee liqueur and a splash of cream. I n 1998, the noir comedy The Big Lebowski reintroduced the White Russian to the world. The titular character in the film, known only as the Dude, is rarely without his beloved creamy, caffeine-packed coffee-flavored cocktail. Created in Belgium in 1949, the White Russian couldn't have been invented if coffee liqueur didn't exist. And, of course, without coffee itself, there would be no coffee liqueur, a category that has grown exponentially over the last several decades. The Birth of Coffee Drinking Culture Although there is no exact record of coffee's origin, it is widely acknowl- edged that Ethiopia is its birthplace, most likely around 850 AD. Legend tells of an enterprising goat herder named Kaldi who noticed his herd prancing about after nibbling on the red berries of a nearby tree. Those berries were coffee cherries, and the zip of energy they gave Kaldi's goats soon became well-known in the region. From there, coffee made its way to Arabia, Persia, Turkey, and other Near Eastern countries. The expansion of trade routes brought coffee to Italy and the Nether- lands, where it spread across Europe. By the 17th century, coffee houses were bustling places to sip stimulating beverages and argue about politics and phi- losophy. Side by side with the birth of coffee culture (as well as tea culture), distilled spirits continued to evolve. Liqueurs—spirits sweetened with sugar and enhanced by various botanicals—were all the rage. Coffee liqueur was just one of the cordials born in this era. Coffee Liqueurs Spread From the Monasteries to the Masses While coffee houses didn't proliferate until the 1600s, the first coffee liqueur was attributed to French monk Frère David in the 16th century. Much as with many liqueur recipes created by monks, Frère David's remained within the confines of the monastery for some time. In the 1800s, when liqueurs experienced a boom time, coffee liqueurs began showing up in spirits manuals like Pierre Duplais' 1871 "A Treatise on the Manu- facture and Distillation of Alcoholic Spirits." The author includes recipes for Crème de Moka, which uses eau de moka (a distillation of coffee), alcohol, and sugar. The term crème refers to the texture of the liqueur; in this case, a crème liqueur has more sugar, which leads to a creamier mouthfeel. Coffee liqueur was just one of many avail- able in this era, but they became massively popu- lar when the twentieth century arrived. In 1936, Kahlùa coffee liqueur was created in Mexico and arrived in the US in 1940. Things happened quick- ly after that. In 1948, the Black Russian was born, followed by the White Russian, much to the fu- ture joy of the Dude. Around this same time, Tia Maria was officially released. Its origins, perhaps apocryphally, can be traced back to a seventeenth- century recipe that a Spanish noblewoman took with her when she escaped war-torn Jamaica. From the 1950s on, there were several other entries in the category, including European brands Fratelli Branca Crema Moka and Zwack Mocca, as well as the American Jacquin's Crème de Café, which was cleverly packaged in a black glazed clay coffee pot. By and large, however, Kahlùa and Tia Maria were the alpha and the omega of the cat- egory. In fact, these were the two coffee liqueurs that the famously influential British bartender Dick Bradsell used when he created the Espresso Martini in the 1980s; the drink went through vari- ous iterations before it was finally presented in a martini glass and received its eponymous name. When the cocktail renaissance began in the early 2000s, distillers and spirits companies start- ed creating new spirits, and liqueurs of all types. Today, the selection of coffee liqueurs goes far beyond Kahlùa and Tia Maria, both of which use a rum base. Several newer brands also start with rum, but some choose whiskey or a neutral grain spirit. The base spirits, as well as the choice of coffee beans, often spotlight the character of

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