In my recent adventures in coffee cocktails – and cold brew cocktails in particular – I set for myself perhaps the ultimate mixological ambition: to create a timeliness and evergreen coffee cocktail. To create a legend, something that I could recommend to a friend, to my mom, to people who don’t even like coffee at all. Or even to people who don’t like tequila (if they exist), and have them all love it universally. I was trying to find a prototype of a cocktail that pleases most of the people I know. It had to be refreshing, not overly sweet, very visually appealing, and approachable. And it also had to have a ​“wow” factor. No big deal, right?

Then it hit me: Mojito. That was IT. A refreshing combination of mint, rum, lime and soda water, the Mojito is a timeless classic drink for a reason – ultimate refreshment. But how do you incorporate coffee here? Is it enough to make it unique? I had my work cut out for me, so I first took a deep dive into the ​“DNA” of the Mojito. I came across an entire category of cocktails called ​“swizzles,” usually a type of drink that combines mint, spirit, citrus and occasionally bitters and takes its name from the technique used to chill and properly dilute the drink. ​“Swizzling“ ingredients together with crushed or pellet ice was originally performed by spinning between your palms a special swizzle stick — a wooden tool that is actually a piece of the Quararibea turbinate, a tree particularly popular in the southern Caribbean islands. 

I also knew that in this case I wanted to use a heavily aged tequila — Patron Extra Anejo. This expression carries a lot of coffee notes already, so it was a perfect canvas. There is something very tropical in our Extra Anejo too, so i wanted to compliment it with matching exotic fruits or spices. After several versions I have landed on a quite unexpected result — spicy ginger was the way to go. I found it to be a perfect bridge from coffee to tequila and the ultimate wow factor this drink was looking for. Fresh mint comes into play too as it acts like a palette-cleanser between each sip, provoking another pour. The drink is finished with a couple dashes of coffee bitters. Making homemade coffee bitters could be a fun project for bartenders on its own, but that is a subject for another article. Meanwhile — enjoy this, as i believe it is ultimately the best cold brew cocktail recipe i have ever tried. 

More recipes and tips on how to use cold brew in mixed drinks can be found in the video below.

Author: Egor Polonskiy