How to make Coffee Liqueur - コーヒー酒

Coffee Liqueur

One of the Japanese chefs up at the New Sanno restaurant Kikuya (photo below) taught me this simple recipe for Coffee Shu (コーヒー 酒)  or Coffee Liqueur. It's very similar to making Umeshu only easier.

After a day - some beans floating in space

The general recipe is:

• 1.8 Liters of white alcohol or alcohol of your choice*
• 100g of whole coffee beans**
• 200g of rock sugar or plain white sugar (+ maybe just a bit more I learned)
• vanilla bean or vanilla extract - optional

* unflavored alcohol such as vodka
** Here you can customize - use ground espresso, espresso beans, instant coffee, or just regular ground coffee if you desire.

The "white alcohol" is the same kind that is used to make Umeshu (or here) and is sold at markets all over. The white alcohol is normally 35% alcohol and you'll clearly see the number 35. Vodka can also be used and there is no need to buy the good stuff since the coffee flavor will dominate.
Most of the websites recommend freshly roasted beans. If they are not freshly roasted, you can do so at home in a pan before using. It's an added touch sure to improve the taste.  Feel free to use regular ground coffee or even instant coffee if you wish. It will be be filtered when it's all done - so how the coffee gets into the mix does not really matter that much.

Final roast of the coffee before adding

Scrape of the vanilla bean

Start out by sterilizing the bottle. Wash it first, let dry, and then rinse thoroughly with some of the white alcohol and discard (the alcohol, not the bottle).  
Cut open the vanilla bean and scrape the inside out.

Add the coffee, sugar, vanilla scraping, leftover vanilla bean, and the alcohol to a container.  You can always add more sugar later if it's needed.

Starting to change color

As it sits, it will change color until it is very dark.
Let it sit for two to three weeks. Mix it up several times a week as the sugar dissolves. You may taste it along the way to test how strong it is. If it's getting too strong then it's time to take the beans out. Not strong enough - let it go another week.

When you are satisfied, strain it all through coffee filters and then put it back into a clean bottle. You may have to use several coffee filters as it will get get clogged up.

The mix should then be aged for another several weeks at a minimum. It can be stored in or out of the refrigerator. It is best served over some ice along with some coffee creamer. Add a bit of water if it's too strong. Another serving option is to just pour some over vanilla ice cream - it's very good.

The chef at Kikuya restaurant

11/27/13 update:
So I made my batch on 9 November and took the coffee beans out around the 22nd. So the beans were only in there for about two weeks. I put it all through coffee filters to filter it and then returned it to the same bottle. I was afraid the espresso beans would lead to too strong a mixture but I'm happy with the way it turned out.  Some additional sugar was added as well. If you're looking for a number I added about 50g more rock sugar.  You can see in the photo above its got a nice color to it. I added just a bit of coffee creamer (the real stuff, not powdered) and drank it that way with an ice cube.



There are several variants to making coffee shu, one of which includes making it with an orange. The idea came from this website.  Although I didn't press all the beans into the orange - as I found that cumbersome - I just added the orange with some of the beans pressed in and then added the rest of beans by themselves.

The basic recipe just like above: put the orange, beans, sugar, and white alcohol together and let sit. Keep an eye on the color, taste if necessary, and shake every week or so. It can then be strained and let sit to mellow out.


The advantage of coffee-shu is that it is ready fast, compared to the 6 months to a year or more for Umeshu.
All of these websites may be helpful (some are in Japanese).

http://wiki.frugaljapan.com/Main/FrugalWayToMakeLiqueur

http://www.kimameya.co.jp/mame/sake.html

http://reproducookingpapa.blog133.fc2.com/blog-entry-20.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOCHIhMnAbc