Coffee Liqueur

As 31 August 2006 is International Blog Day, I thought it might be an idea for a celebratory drink; not because we have anything to celebrate. I just like to hit the bottle from time to time and this just gives me a good excuse.

For those of you that read my previous posting about coffee enemas and have now decided that any instant coffee they might have lying around is now surplus to requirement; you might want to try wasting it on this recipe to make your own coffee liqueur.


If you read the recipe and follow the instructions, you will realise two things. Firstly, it will take about 3 weeks to make your drink. Secondly, most alcohol bases will give you a ‘Kahlua’-type liqueur, whilst it seems only rum can make something approaching ‘Tia Maria’. Personally, I think this could be just a way of saying that no one really knows what ‘Kahlua’ tastes like but I’m not sure. Perhaps that’s why it’s such a popular mixer after you’ve had 10 pints of lager, 5 ‘Red Bulls’ & vodka, and 2 bottles of ‘Asti Spumante’.


Coffee Liqueur
2 cups water
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup dry instant coffee (fresh jar)
1/2 vanilla bean, chopped (or 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract)
1-1/2 cups alcohol*
Caramel colouring if desired.

Boil the water and sugar until dissolved. Turn off the heat. Slowly add dry instant coffee and continue stirring. Add the vanilla to thealcohol; then combine the cooled sugar syrup and coffee mixture to thealcohol mixture. Cover tightly and shake vigorously each day for 3weeks. Strain and filter (only if you have used vanilla bean)
*NOTE: Vodka will give you a liqueur remarkably similar to ‘Kahlua’, rum will make a drink very similar to ‘Tia Maria’, whilst brandy and grain alcohol will give you a ‘Kahlua’-like liqueur as well.


“Moderation is a fatal thing Lady Hunstanton. Nothing succeeds like excess” – Oscar Wilde, ‘A Woman of No Importance’, Act III