This is a recipe I worked out while trying to make homemade Kahlua. It is a vodka based coffee liqueur with tropical flavorings. I have since worked out a better recipe for homemade Kahlua but this one came out pretty good, so I decided to bottle it.
This is a complex recipe because it is made in three infusions. You could make something similar with one infusion like most homemade liqueurs, but there is simply too much volume of fruit, coffee and other botanicals in proportion to the volume of vodka to obtain a decent result with any kind of intensity. You really have to do it in three infusions.
This liqueur has coconut, banana, coffee, peppermint and cocoa flavorings. First you infuse the coconut and banana, then you strain it, filter it and clarify it. Then you infuse coffee and peppermint, then filter it. Then you infuse the cocoa flavor, then filter it and clarify it, then blend and bottle it. Do you see what I mean? It is a complex recipe, but it is worth it.
Unfortunately, in the process you will lose about 40% of the infused spirits. If you make a double batch and start out with 10 cups of vodka, then by the time you are finished, you will have about 6 cups of infused spirits. The blending step will raise the volume by about 2 1/3 times the amount of infused spirits for the final amount.
You can make Black Russians and White Russians and other mixed drinks that use Kahlua with this liqueur. This was the recipe I used for the coffee liqueur brownies. I think that this tropical coffee liqueur recipe is better than Kahlua or homemade Kahlua for the brownie recipe.
Most coffee liqueur recipes on the Internet use instant coffee or brewed coffee. Both of these methods will impart a bitter flavor to the liqueur so I had to find a better method. I figured I could try infusing coffee into the vodka like any other botanical and it worked well without imparting any bitterness or without making the liqueur watery.
Once I figured out how to add the coffee flavor to the liqueur, I wanted to work out the best way to add the tropical flavorings (coconut, banana, peppermint and cocoa). In order to achieve the right intensity of all of the flavors I would have to macerate the ingredients in progressive passes (infusions). There is just too much volume of ingredients to be infused in one pass.
After all the flavors have been infused, the final step is sweetening and blending. This recipe uses standard caramel syrup and standard sugar syrup. I wanted the finished liqueur to be fairly viscous so I came up with the idea to boil down the standard sugar syrup to 90% of its volume to thicken it slightly. This recipe calls for a blending stock to be made from boiled down sugar syrup plus caramel syrup plus 100 proof vodka. It is necessary to combine the boiled down sugar syrup with the other ingredients as a blending stock to keep the boiled down sugar syrup from crystallizing.
Tropical Coffee Liqueur:
Macerate in 3 infusions:
1st infusion (1 week): Add coconut, banana and vodka
2nd infusion (4 weeks): Add coffee and peppermint leaves
3rd infusion (2 weeks): Add the cocoa
First Infusion Ingredients:
- 5 cups Vodka (80 proof)
- 2 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut
- 2 cups diced ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
First Infusion Directions:
- Add shredded coconut to a 2 qt. Mason jar.
- Dice the bananas and add to the jar. Bananas will be ripe once dark spots begin to appear on the yellow of the peels. Bananas should not be too soft or too hard.
- Add the Vodka to the jar then close the lid and shake vigorously to mix the ingredients.
- Macerate for 1 week then strain and filter.
- After macerating, rack off the clarified part through a metal coffee filter, then strain the rest with kitchen strainer, then filter with cheesecloth to squeeze out all the juice. Discard the remains.
- Allow to settle for about a week then carefully pour the clarified portion through a paper towel into a clean Mason jar. Discard any sludge when done. The infused spirits should be fairly clear and free of most sediment.
Second Infusion Ingredients (in these proportions):
- 2 cups infused spirits
- 1/2 cup ground Farmer Bros Medium Roast 100% Gourmet Arabica coffee
- 1/4 cup peppermint leaves
Second Infusion Directions:
- Measure proportionate amounts of macerated spirits, peppermint and coffee.
- Add the coffee and macerated spirits to a 2 qt. Mason jar.
- Set aside the proportionate amount of peppermint leaves for now.
- Macerate for 3 weeks then add the peppermint, then macerate for an additional week (total 4 weeks for the coffee and 1 week for the peppermint leaves).
- Strain and filter the macerated spirits with a metal coffee filter. Let settle for a several days then filter with paper coffee filters as in the previous step to clarify the macerated spirits.
Third Infusion Ingredients (in these proportions):
- 2 cups infused spirits
- 1/4 cup Hershey’s Cocoa
Third Infusion Directions:
- Measure proportionate amounts of infused spirits and cocoa, and then add ingredients to a 2 qt. Mason jar.
- Macerate for 2 weeks then strain and filter through a paper towel. Allow enough time to strain through the paper towel because the mixture can be very thick.
- Allow to settle for a about a week, then rack off the clarified part into a clean jar through a paper coffee filter. Periodically repeat this racking step with paper coffee filters over a period of about a month to clarify the infused spirits.
Blending Ingredients:
Blending Instructions (sweeten and blend the liqueur):
- Make a blending stock using the following proportions:
- 5 oz caramel syrup
- 10 oz sugar syrup boiled down to 9 oz. (90% of original volume)
- Add blending stock and vanilla extract to the macerated spirits according to the following proportions:
- 8 oz blending stock
- 4 oz macerated spirits
- 2 oz 100 proof vodka
- 1/4 oz vanilla extract
Notes:
- Medium Roast Gourmet Arabica coffee available online from Dr. Soda.
- Peppermint leaves obtainable in bulk online from Herb Products Co..
First Infusion – Add Coconut and Banana
Shown below is a shot of the ingredients for the first infusion: natural, unsweetened shredded coconut, ripe bananas and vodka. Note: bananas will be just right when dark spots begin to appear on the peels. They should not be too soft or too hard. Use the photo below as a guide.
First, add the shredded coconut to the jar. It should be natural, unsweetened, shredded coconut.
Next, dice the bananas and add them to the jar.
Finally, measure out the vodka and add it to the jar.
Vigorously shake the jar to thoroughly mix all the ingredients and set the jar aside in a cool place. Below is a shot of the batch before maceration:
Pass I – Straining, Filtering and Clarification
After one week, the infused spirits are ready to strain and filter. Shown below is a shot of the first pass after maceration:
Carefully pour the infused spirits through a metal coffee filter into a clean jar.
Pour the remaining solids though a kitchen strainer into a saucepan.
Pour the strained liquid through the metal coffee filter, adding it to the same jar.
Now strain the solids a little at a time through cheesecloth, squeezing out all the juice and add the juice to the jar.
Shown below is a shot of the jar with the strained liquid after the first infusion. Set the jar aside in a cool place for about a week to clarify.
After about 7-8 days, the sediments will have separated. It’s ready to filter. You can see some of the sediments are floating and some of the sediments are on the bottom. The filter will catch it.
After about a week, the infused spirits should be fairly clarified with most of the sediments separated. Pouring very slowly and carefully, filter through a paper towel into a clean jar. Let it stand and filter for about 30 minutes until there is no more liquid coming out.
Here you can see the solids have all been caught by the filter.
The clarified spirits are ready for the next infusion.
Continue to Tropical Coffee Liqueur Recipe – Part II
