Top 5 Spirit-Infused Coffee Brews To Make During A Camping Trip
Spiking coffee with liquor essentially makes your brew into a cocktail. Aside from tasting uniquely great, spirit-infused coffee promotes better digestion after eating, healthier bowel movement while offering an almost instantaneous bump in energy.
However, this does not mean that all it takes is to pour some alcohol over your brew; certain types of spirits work better than others, and the process is different for each one. Today, we’ll talk about the top five spirit-infused coffee brews to make during a camping trip, so let’s start!
1. Irish Coffee
The gateway to alcohol-spiked brews, Irish Coffee is the perfect introduction for beginners. It’s remarkably strong, but it’s also highly customizable, meaning that you can add certain elements to it to make it a bit sweeter (or darker) without changing its taste too much.
One of the reasons you should start your adventure with spirit-infused coffee brews with Irish whiskey is that you can simply prepare your favorite coffee and pour the ingredients.
How to Make
- This type of cocktail tastes the beast if you preheat your mug with boiling water, as this will allow the extra ingredients to dissolve faster.
- Once you’ve prepared your coffee, add a tablespoon of brown sugar first. Optionally, you can use white sugar if brown is not available.
- Next, add three tablespoons of Irish whiskey.
Traditionally, whipped cream is added on top. However, if you don’t have the means to prepare it while camping, you can add an extra tablespoon of brown sugar and reduce a single tablespoon of whiskey to balance the bitter taste.
2. Calypso Coffee
Widely considered a party drink, Calypso Coffee is an excellent pick-me-up beverage for campers who need extra energy. Its taste is a bit more mellow than Irish Coffee, making it ideal for people who are not particularly good at stomaching hard liquors.
How to Make
- Brew your coffee and pour a fluid ounce of rum while it’s still hot. A sugar cube can be added to make the rum somewhat weaker and the coffee’s original taste more dominant.
- Another optional ingredient is distilled cacao plant (crème de cacao). It has a strong, sweet aroma with a milky texture. A bottle of crème de cacao of average quality shouldn’t be more than a few dollars, although it will occupy a good chunk of your backpack storage space.
- You can also use Tia Maria instead of rum due to its incomparably stronger taste. Tia Maria, essentially, features Jamaican rum, sugar, and a tinge of vanilla. With an alcoholic content of 20%, Tia Maria’s ‘strength’ is half of most types of rum (40% ABV).
The Tia Maria version is much easier to stomach for non-drinkers than the rum version. Either way, it’s more suitable for camping, while rum-based Calypso coffee is better for parties.
3. Kaffekask (Kaffekarsk)
Although it originated in Scandinavian countries, Kaffekask had many incarnations throughout Europe. The original recipe includes blending coffee, Swedish or Norwegian Schnapps, and a tablespoon of sugar.
Given that Schnapps is a fruit-based hard liquor available in a myriad of flavors, choosing the right one requires you to understand the taste of your brew in the first place. Peach-flavored Schnapps are generally the most versatile, while pear, grape, and apple-flavored Schnapps are fairly specific taste-wise.
How to Make
- Preheat the mug and pour the hot coffee.
- Add a cube of white sugar, then proceed to pour a tablespoon of Schnapps.
Unlike Calypso and Irish Coffee, Kaffekask becomes stronger and more intensive the more sugar you add to the mix. Schnapps already feature a high concentration of sugar, which means that they’ll absorb it, enhancing its alcoholic content and flavor.
4. Café Caribbean
One of America’s most delicious coffee-liquor cocktails, the Café Caribbean is comprised of a variety of ingredients and boasts a unique, intense aroma.
Speaking of ingredients, you’ll need at least an ounce of rum, half an ounce of Amaretto, a handful of sliced almonds, and a can of cream. The process is almost identical to preparing Irish, Calypso, and Kaffekask.
How to Make
- Preheat the mug and pour hot coffee into it.
- Add the liquors.
- Decorate it with whipped cream and almonds. Although, these ingredients do not influence its aroma much and are entirely optional.
Amaretto is the most important ingredient, as it separates Caribbean coffee from Calypso coffee. Even though this spirit-infused beverage may be a bit more expensive to create, it offers a unique experience and taste.
5. Carajillo
A cold-served alcohol-spiked coffee cocktail, Carajillo is a Spanish recipe widely used by Latin American coffee drinkers.
While it can be made with standard-brewed coffee, its ideal base is espresso. So if you want to stick to the original recipe, prepare some at home and store it in a thermos. It’s typically served in short glasses, although mugs could work as well.
Aside from ice, the only ingredient other than coffee is the Mexican Licor 43 (Liquor 43), a vanilla-flavored liquor. Another difference between Carajillo and other spirit-infused coffee drinks is that it’s commonly served before meals (rather than after).
How to Make
- To make the perfect cold brew, start by making your espresso and letting it cool for a few minutes. Chill all of your glasses in the freezer before preparing.
- Once chilled, add ice cubes to each glass, then top with Licor 43.
- Serve immediately!
Bonus Recipe: Spirit-Infused Stew – Irish Beef Stew
While hard liquors work great with coffee brews, beer typically works better with stews. The Irish Beef Stew requires some trial and error, but it’s essentially pretty simple to make.
The main ingredients you will need are a pound of stew meat, three teaspoons of salt, ¼ cup of olive oil, six cloves of minced garlic, four cups of beef stock, two cups of water, and a cup of Irish Stout beer.
How to Make
- Pour the stout over the stew while it’s still cooking.
- Taste it as you pour the stout and stop if the aroma changes drastically. If that becomes the case, add another batch of main ingredients proportionately to soften it.
- Optionally, you can add two tablespoons of tomato paste, a tablespoon of dried thyme, two bay leaves, two tablespoons of butter, and any other vegetable that your camping group likes (carrots, potatoes, and similar).
Conclusion
Spirit-infused coffee tastes great, but it’s important to know how to make the perfect one for your needs. So before you head out on a camping trip, be sure to pack not only some alcohol and ground beans but also this blog!
We can help you find an easy recipe that will work for any type of liquor or spirit, so all you have to do is pour and enjoy. Have fun sipping spirits in nature—just remember to go slowly!
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