8
2008
There are many recipes for homemade Kahlua® on the Internet. Some are simple and can be made very quickly using instant coffee and others require more time to make. I decided to make Kahlua (coffee liqueur) and tried a few of the available recipes. I discovered in a very short time that in order to make a good quality coffee liqueur I would have to figure out how to add the coffee flavor without the coffee becoming bitter or without the liqueur becoming too watery. These were the first obstacles to overcome.
The finished liqueur must be of a certain viscosity and alcohol content. If coffee is brewed in water, then the liqueur will be watery and will have a low alcohol content. You can get around this problem by using instant coffee. I tried several different instant coffees – some freeze dried and others heat dried – and I found that all instant coffee is bitter. There is just no way around it.
I had the idea that I could simply infuse ground coffee directly into spirit – totally cold – and that was the breakthrough. It worked. By infusing ground coffee directly into the spirits I was able to use any commercially available coffee. Real Kahlua is made from 100% gourmet Arabica coffee beans. I felt that it was necessary to use 100% gourmet Arabica coffee in my recipe as well so I found an online source at Dr. Soda.
Real Kahlua also has a unique aroma that comes from cane spirit, which is a cousin of rum. You don’t find cane spirit in too many liquor stores, but Bacardi rum is widely available. I found that Bacardi Superior rum does impart an aroma and flavor that is very close to real Kahlua so that is my first choice for the spirit used to make this liqueur.
Real Kahlua is also made with some caramel so my recipe uses standard caramel syrup along with some standard sugar syrup. Real Kahlua is a fairly viscous liqueur so it is necessary to boil down the standard sugar syrup to 90% of its original volume to obtain the desired viscosity. If you use too much caramel, the liqueur will have an undesirable, lingering aftertaste. This recipe calls for the making of a blending stock with the right combination of caramel and sugar syrups to obtain a smooth tasting finished product.
Homemade Kahlua
Infusing Ingredients:
- 4 cups rum (Bacardi Superior Light Rum is best but a cheaper brand may also work)
- 1 cup Farmer Bros. Medium Roast 100% Gourmet Arabica Coffee
Infusing Directions:
- Combine rum and coffee in a 2 qt. Mason jar. Shake vigorously to thoroughly mix ingredients.
- Macerate for 4 weeks then strain and filter the contents with a metal coffee filter. Let settle for about 3 to 4 weeks then rack off the clarified part and filter the remainder with paper coffee filters to clarify the infused spirits.
Blending Ingredients:
- Standard caramel syrup
- Standard sugar syrup
- Vanilla extract
Blending Instructions (sweeten and blend the liqueur):
- Make a blending stock using the following proportions:
- 5 oz standard caramel syrup
- 10 oz standard sugar syrup boiled down to 9 oz. (90% of original volume)
- Add blending stock and vanilla extract to the infused spirits according to the following proportions:
- 4 oz infused spirit
- 6 oz blending stock
- 1/4 oz (1 1/2 tsp) vanilla extract
Notes:
- Medium Roast Gourmet Arabica coffee available online from Dr. Soda.
Part I – Infusing the Coffee
Shown below is a shot of the ingredients and 2 Qt. Mason jar. Bacardi rum will impart a better aroma (shown below: back row, middle), but you can use a cheaper brand of rum (e.g. Ron Caballero – shown below: back row, right).
Measure and add the coffee to the jar, then measure and add the rum.
Here is a shot of all the ingredients shaken up and ready to set aside for maceration. The ratio of rum to coffee is 4 to 1. In this case I added 5 cups rum and 1 1/4 cups of coffee.
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So what would happen if I used vodka instead of rum? I don’t necessarily want to make a “Kahlua” but something like that. I just bought some vodka that’s why I ask ;)
anyway looks like a great recipe!
Vodka will be okay … I used vodka in some early test recipes and it wasn’t bad at all … the main reason for using rum was to imitate the real Kahlua.
Have you played with the infusing time? I’ve been making cold brewed coffee for some time, and typical infusing times range from 12 to 24 hours. What’s the benefit of infusing for 4 weeks? Also, I use Sucanat (essentially pure dried sugar cane juice) as a sweetener. Have you tried using anything other than cane sugar for the sugar syrup or caramel? Do you think substituting Sucanat would work?
Actually, I have been giving this some thought in the months since I made this post. It was a little bitter, but not much. I plan to play around with the recipe a little bit – perhaps shorten the infusion time and make a few other minor adjustments.
Re: Sucanat … I have tried other sweeteners and I prefer cane sugar for all my liqueurs. I’m sure there would be some recipe where Sucanat or brown sugar or other sweetener might be harmonious, but cane sugar does the job really well for any recipe I have tried without adding any other flavors.
Thank you. You sure can post an absolutely clear and concise instructable. Last year, you sucked me in, and I followed your recipe almost exactly. That batch was a big hit as Xmas presents, and I had to follow up with two more batches just for ourselves. You have me hooked, now.
I must say that when I modified your recipe somewhat, it definitely went downhill. Maybe it was the shortcuts I took on clarifying the infusion, or adding too much cocoa powder (I primarily use this for coffee nudges and like the chocolate flavor). At any rate, I am edging back to your original formula.
I finish my batches off with more rum and brandy, so that coffee nudges are simpler to make. I found really inexpensive vanilla beans at our local store (surprising since we are on an island), so I constantly infuse vanilla beans in 100 proof vodka. It seems to be better than commercial extract, but at any rate, it’s way more fun. I just top up the vanilla infusion when needed and occasionally replace the beans.
I make a two gallon batch at a time, and use 20 cups of cane sugar per gallon of distilled water. A quart of Karo syrup not only ups the sweetness, but helps prevent crystallization. Thanks again for turning me on to this sport, it is fun.
Hello, This recipe looks amazing. Thanks for doing all of the hard work for us! We are wondering based on your recipe of using 4 cups of rum and 1 cup of coffee, how much does a ‘batch’ yeild? We are trying to decide on how much rum we need to buy if we want to get together and make 30 bottles, 16oz each.
Thanks.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you like the recipe. Okay … for the math … let’s see. To the best of my recollection, I would get about 3.5 cups of infused spirit per batch (starting with 4 cups of rum). Your target is 30 times 16 = 480 ounces. The blending ratio is 4 out of 10 ounces to make the infused spirit part (4 oz plus 6 oz blending stock) or 40%. So 40% of 480 = 192 ounces. You would need to make 54.86 batches to get 192 ounces (192 divided by 3.5). Somewhere around that much. I think it’s best to make smaller batches to nail down the amounts more accurately and to get a feel for it. Things might vary a bit.
I just finished this recipe tonight, I’ve been wanting to try it for a long time as I found your recipe over a year ago! Anyway, after just mixing the blending stock, infused spirits and vanilla, my first little taste it… it still seems to be fairly bitter, though my infusion of the rum with the coffee was about 6 weeks (I forgot about it), so that’s probably why. I’ll certainly try another batch once I finish this one!
One note on your math above… you’ve mixed your units, you took 192 ounces and divided by 3.5 cups, hence the large number of batches (54.86). 192 ounces = 24 cups and 24/3.5 ~= 6.85 batches.
This recipe takes some trial and error to get the proportions and timing all right. I found I was having to deal with the bitterness, too.
Thanks for pointing out the math error. I messed up :-(