Recipe: Homemade Coffee Liqueur

Coffee and alcohol: together at last.

Homemade Liqueur. Photo by Rachel Eades

As winter weather and the holiday season approaches, the temptation to settle in around a cozy fireplace with a warm drink can become overwhelming. The local liquor store swaps out Caribbean rum and fruity mixed drinks for wintery coffee warmers, such as Kahlua and Baileys.

But as a true DIYer, you’re not content with that store-bought stuff. You want to make your own!

And here’s the good news: making your own coffee liqueur is easy, and also a very effective way to impress your friends with your resourcefulness.

First, go to the liquor store and pick up a bottle of dark rum. Next, you’ll need to pick up some of your favourite coffee grounds, and a vanilla bean. If you can’t find vanilla beans at the grocery store, check out your local natural foods store. You’ll also need water and sugar, but most kitchens have those items readily available.

Once you have your supplies rounded up, you’re ready to get started. First, boil three cups of water in a pot. Once boiled, add three cups of sugar. Mix until dissolved. Once the sugar has been added and dissolved (the process shouldn’t take more than five minutes), remove the pot from the heat and let the syrup cool a bit. Then mix in ½ a cup of ground coffee.

Let this mixture sit until it’s cooled right down—about half an hour.

At this point, you’ll ideally have a large, airtight container available to pour your mixture into. At least a litre in size would be ideal. If you don’t have one large container available, you can split the mixture into smaller containers. When we made this at home, we couldn’t find a large container so we split it into three mason jars.

Assuming you have a container large enough, take your vanilla bean and split it down the middle. Drop it into your container, and pour the coffee/sugar/water mixture in on top of it. Add three cups of dark rum to the container, seal it, and shake it well.

If you don’t have a large enough containers, you’ll need to split up your vanilla bean and rum. Assuming you need to split it into three containers, cut your vanilla bean into three equal parts (split down the middle) and put one part in each container. Add 1/3 of your mixture to each container, and then add one cup of rum. Seal and shake. You can adjust these quantities as needed based on the number of containers you need to split your liqueur into.

Now that you have your liqueur bottled and sealed, you’ll need to store it in a cool, dry place for four weeks (a dark cupboard is a good option). You should take out your container and shake it daily for the duration of the four weeks, to maximize the flavour.

When the four weeks are up, you’ll be ready to strain out the coffee grinds and test your liqueur. The easiest way to strain them is to put a coffee filter into a mesh strainer, or a funnel over a large bowl or pot. Once strained, you can pour your finished liqueur into an empty, clean liquor bottle, and your coffee liqueur is ready to enjoy, just in time for the holidays!