Monte Cristo Coffee

MONTE CRISTO COFFEE

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

- Dr. Seuss

Hello again dear readers!

My thoughts of coffee cocktails has been brewing (tee-hee) for a long time now. I've read about them a lot as well as any alcoholic beverage that is enjoyed warm/hot. The promo pictures are so delicious looking I've always wanted to make one myself (here's a good example of one). The only problem I've found with these kind of drinks is that 90% of the time they look exactly the same; it's black/brown and a float of loosely whipped cream on top. Maybe some chocolate sprinkles or powdered cocoa on top. So making a dozen of different flavored coffee cocktails wouldn't make sense per se; I'd have a dozen similar looking pictures. 

So the only thing where I can make an actual difference is

1. Choose a different kind of glass
2. Choose "unorthodox" garnishes (that still apply for the drink overall)

At work we make various warm cocktails. During the holiday season we sell plenty of glögi, both with and without alcohol. Irish coffees and peppermint hot chocolates and all of those are ordered on a rather regular basis as well. Figures since it's cold outside and people like to drink warm drinks (coffee) in Finland, so why not combine both?

Anyhow, one of the more known coffee cocktails is the Monte Cristo coffee. I actually saw a colleague of mine do this in a wine goblet and it really hit me; "Why not?" Having had a rough weekend at work (long hours in consecutive days) I really wanted to do this and see how it goes down as a coffee drink:

• 2.5 cl Kahluá (coffee liqueur)
• 2.5 cl Cointreau (triple sec)
• hot coffee
• loosely whipped cream

First warm up the glass. Pour in the liquors, add the coffee and finally with the help of a spoon gently pour the loosely whipped cream on top to create a float. Serve.

In our bar we use 2:2cl respectively (regulations) and some recipes in the wonderland we call internet call for 3 cl kahluá/1.5 cl cointreau (gran marnier) for a more coffee-tasting experience. Given, that would've probably worked a tad better; although this cocktail tasted great, the orange flavors did overwhelm the coffee aromas a little bit.

Either way, I've really warmed up (tee-hee) for these kind of drinks! Coffee cocktails, I salute you!