The liqueur manufacturing plant trundles on, and this month we filter, bottle, and eventually drink some coffee liqueur: Tio Mario because it is a little manlier than Tia Maria.
Most of the online recipes use espresso beans slightly crushed, but I used to make this stuff in the early 80′s out of ground espresso so that’s what I will do here.
Also, a very good clearinghouse for this hobby is Boozed and Infused and they strongly suggest using bourbon as the base liquor. You should probably take their advice, but this is a walk down memory lane so I used vodka…the original batches involved USP absolute ethanol liberated from the clutches of the Auburn University School of Pharmacy and College of Engineering.
I started with a 700 mL bottle, which is about 24 US fluid ounces (approximately 4 good coffee cups). So, I spooned enough coffee in to make 8 cups (I want this to be strong) and the amount of sugar I would typically use for 5 cups (two rounded per cup, for me). Fill and store, as normal, shaking every now and then for at least 4 weeks…this batch was started 12 December.
Filtering is as I have been doing for the other liqueurs, starting with the coarse screening through my unplugged coffee maker and then through an old hashing t-shirt (although these should become scarce in the upcoming months). It is strong, having aged a full month and starting with ground coffee, but it is copacetic and sublime…White Russians for me!
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