It’s my favorite drink of the moment.
A few months ago a friend ordered a Spanish Coffee at our local live music-n-drinks joint, the Seamonster Lounge in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. We watched with wide eyes as the bartender rimmed the glass with sugar and made long pours of Kahlua and Bacardi into it with practiced flicks of his wrist. Before we knew it the drink was ablaze, and spices were crackling into sparks over the ethereal blue flame. If Harry Potter’s Goblet of Fire were a cocktail, it would have to be a Spanish Coffee.
Hot drip coffee and whipped cream soon extinguished the fireball in its glass, and we all took a sip. Rich spirits, dark roasted coffee, caramelized sugar and cream met our lips as separate flavors before intertwining themselves and ensnaring our senses. We were hooked.
Spanish Coffee’s history in the Northwest begins with Huber’s Café in Portland: though the 134-year-old restaurant didn’t invent the cocktail, their recipe has become the industry standard—popularized to the point that Huber’s has claimed the title of largest independent restaurant user of Kahlua in the U.S. Now many regional bars and eateries serve the concoction including Seattle’s Zig Zag Café, Boise’s Bardenay and The Pony in Pemberton, BC.
Although the claim is often made that Spanish Coffee is a winter drink, while its virtues as an elixir on late summer nights ought not to be overlooked, it’s a pretty strong choice for fall or winter.
So how best to enjoy its mélange of pleasurable coffee flavors during the hotter months? Below are Huber’s original Spanish Coffee recipe and my own chilled version. Fewer theatrics sans fire, perhaps, but the flavors meld mouthwateringly over coffee ice cubes as well.
Huber’s Spanish Coffee
Sugar-rimmed red wine glass or tumbler (tempered)
¾ ounce Bacardi 151
½ ounce Bols Triple Sec
2 ounce Kahlua
3 ounce fresh-brewed coffee
Whipped cream and ground nutmeg for garnish
Add the rum and the triple sec to the sugar-rimmed glass and carefully ignite. Add Kahlua (the flame should go out at this point) and top with hot coffee. Garnish.
Iced Spanish Coffee
Cinnamon-sugar rimmed red wine glass or tumbler
¾ ounce Bacardi 151
½ ounce Bols Triple Sec
2 ounce
2 ounce cold-brewed coffee (dark roasts work best – try Tully’s Sumatra, or Blue Star Roasters’ Kenya AA Baisikeli)
3-4 coffee ice cubes (fill ice cube trays with cold-brewed coffee 1-2 hours before drink preparation)
1 ounce cream
Whipped cream, cinnamon and orange twist for garnish
Pour rum, triple sec and Kahlua over coffee ice cubes in sugar-rimmed glass. Add a float of cream. Garnish with whipped cream, orange twist and a light sprinkling of cinnamon.
The cinnamon in this version of the cocktail accentuates the more muted flavors of coldbrewed coffee. Cold-brew, while rich and strong enough to stand up to the flavors of the liquors used, doesn’t show off its own nuances as well as hot coffee will in the original recipe. The spice notes add complexity, while the citrus in the triple sec and orange twist make for a refreshing summery finish.
