Seven Tips For Better Coffee Cocktails

Coffee is not a commodity; it's a culinary luxury.

Like wine and spirits, coffees can contain notes like pomegranate, jasmine, citrus, almonds or chocolate that enhance cocktails. But because coffee – most of which comes from Latin America – is complex, coffee cocktails are hard to do well. There are acids, sugars, and bitter flavors in the coffee you must factor into the formula, plus various brew methods and bean qualities.

Concocting a dynamic and tasty coffee cocktail that perfectly marries seemingly odd ingredients requires trial and error. But a great coffee cocktails always starts with great coffee.

Trevor Corlett, owner and barista of MadCap Coffee in Grand Rapids, Mi., Cora Lambert, coffee director at RBC Bar NYC, Michael Philips, 2010 U.S. and World Barista Champion, and Troy Sidle of Alchemy Consulting NYC, revealed seven tips for better coffee – and therefore better coffee cocktails – at this summer's Tales of the Cocktail spirits conference in New Orleans:

Freshness is key. Coffee is also not like a fine wine: it does not get better with age. From the time a bean is plucked to the time it lands in your cup, its flavor and quality has deteriorated quite a bit. The more a bean is exposed to oxygen, the more CO2 gases release and the more rapidly flavors escape from it. Coffee is freshest within 4-6 days of roast. Once coffee is ground, oils begin to go rancid and push to the surface of your cup (always grind beans at home immediately before use). The fresher your coffee, the better the coffee cocktail.

Buy your beans from a local roaster. Sometimes flavors in the brew are actually determined more by the roast process than the actual bean. Befriend a local roaster who is knowledgeable about the beans he carries and will guide you based on the flavor profile you'd like. Plus, it's guaranteed to be as fresh as it can be.

Aim for balance. Caffeine and alcohol can have an interesting result when mixed together, so use caution when experimenting with cocktails. The drink should be balanced and the flavors should complement each other, without one piece dominating the other. Fortified wines, rums and cognacs tend to be natural pairings with coffee, while the earthiness of whiskey and tequila might make for a wet hay taste. But maybe not – it may depend on your brew method, so…

Experiment with brew methods to get your desired taste. Different brew methods result in different flavor profiles. For example, the immersion method, which involves fully immersing ground coffee in cold or room temperature water for a day, eliminates bitter qualities that usually arise in hot coffee. The French Press method achieves great body in a coffee but can sometimes over-extract flavors. The Chemex or pour-over method produces balanced brews but is slow, while using espresso offers a more concentrated brew but requires more time and expensive equipment. Each method will result in a different taste – even with the same bean – so experiment to see which works best with the base spirit you choose.

Use good, clean water at the right temperature. Just as fresh, pure water is important when distilling a quality spirit, it's also important to making good coffee (minerals in unfiltered water taint the beans' flavor). Water that is too hot will turn the coffee bitter while water too cool will turn it sour. Let the water cool to the touch before mixing. Otherwise, the alcohol will burn when mixed with the coffee, smell like a distillery and cause imbalance in the cocktail.

Brew at the proper ratio.  Aim for a ratio of 1/3 ounce of coffee to 15 milliliters water for optimal brew strength.

Sugar and cream are your friends, but so are many other ingredients. Taste the coffee on its own and determine its subtle notes, which will guide the flavors with which you mix it. Do you taste hints of pomegranate? Then grenadine, which is derived from pomegranate, may complement it. Allow the marriage of flavors even if they seem off the wall. You'll never know if you don't try!

Here, two recipes that combine tequila with espresso and fruit notes in a unique way you wouldn't expect. Both were created by Justin Trevor Winters for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Company.

Santa's Secret

• ½ ounce Premium Espresso
• ½ ounce Silver Tequila
• ¼ ounce Grenadine
• Serrano Chile

Garnish: Serrano Chili Pepper or Cherry

Glass: Shot Glass

Place 2 thin slices of Serrano chili peppers into a cocktail shaker. Add ¼ oz grenadine and muddle thoroughly.  Pour all other ingredients into cocktail shaker and add ice. Shake vigorously. Strain contents into a shot glass.

The Oliphant (meaning “Elephant” in several African languages)

• 2 ounces Premium Espresso
• 1 ounce Vodka
• 1 ounce Patron XO
• 1 ounce Amarula Cream Liqueur
• ½ ounce Cointreau

Garnish: Cherry

Glass: Martini Glass or Marie Antoinette Coupe

Place all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, add ice, and shake vigorously. Strain the contents into a martini glass. Garnish with a cherry.