Café Brûlot
ClassicSpiced, flamed brandy drowned in hot coffee.
Rich, aromatic, and bittersweet. Warm brandy and orange curaçao meet strong black coffee, with clove, cinnamon, and orange peel perfuming every sip. Bold and grown-up — a flaming digestif that tastes like Christmas at a Creole table.
Ingredients
- 2 oz Brandy
- 0.5 oz Orange Curaçao
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 3 oz Coffee
- 1 Orange Peel
- 2 Clove
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- Orange · optional garnish
Method
- 1
In a heatproof pan or brûlot bowl, warm the brandy, curaçao, sugar, clove-studded orange peel, and cinnamon.
- 2
Carefully ignite the warm spirit and let it flame, ladling it over itself to caramelise the sugar and spice. Keep clear of anything flammable.
- 3
Slowly pour in the hot coffee to extinguish the flame.
- 4
Strain into cups and serve, with a twist of orange.
The Story
Café Brûlot — "burnt brandy coffee" — is a New Orleans showpiece, popularised at Antoine's in the late 19th century and served tableside in the dark, its flaming spice-and-citrus spiral ladled up in a long ribbon of fire. It closed countless Creole dinners as theatre as much as digestif. Make it with care and respect for the flame.
Recipe card
The whole recipe in one shareable image.
