advent calendar day 5: lazy fancy drinks

 
 

It’s apparently the time to be merry, and a great time to show off some bougie drinks… so here are a few quick and easy methods for some fancy and delicious drinks 🤙🏼

A general rule of thumb: Medium to light roasts are usually better for fruit-based cocktails.

The Aeropress

Strength of coffee flavour: 3/5
How easy is it? 3.5/5
Serving size: 1 glass

The general (inverted) method:

• Mix your desired cocktail of choice, e.g. Spritz, Espresso Martini, Black Russian, etc
• Grind 15g of coffee beans to a medium-fine setting
• Prep your Aeropress with the coffee grounds and, instead of water, pour in the cocktail mix, making sure the coffee gets evenly wet
• Steep coffee-cocktail mixture for two minutes
• Insert plunger and filter the coffee-cocktail mixture into a mixing glass
• Add ice, stir, strain through filter and enjoy 🍸


Tip:

• If you’d like a stronger body, either use an Aeropress with a metal filter, or a very fine grind

• If the coffee flavour is too weak, steep the mixture for longer, or use a finer grind; if it’s too strong, steep for shorter, or use a coarser grind

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The French Press

Strength of coffee flavour: 4/5
How easy is it? 5/5
Serving size: 1 glass

The general method #1:
•  The first method is to make a cold-pressed spirit or liqueur
•  To make a cold-pressed spirit or liqueur, do a ratio of 1:4 coarse coffee grounds to spirit. This means 1/2 cup of ground coffee beans to 2 cups of spirit
• Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes before pressing the plunger. Strain, and you can add the cold-pressed spirit to any cocktail!

The general method #2:
• The second way is similar to the Aeropress, where you mix in the cocktail mixture with ground coffee beans
• For all the single ladies out there only making single servings (i.e. me), add in 10.5g of coarsely ground coffee, or 2 tablespoons
• Add in your desired cocktail mixture of choice, e.g. Piña Colada (it’s surprisingly good), Whiskey Smash, Old Fashioned, etc
• Muddled ingredients are amazing in a French press, so chuck them in!
• Steep for 3-5 minutes (depending on preferred coffee strength) before plunging and enjoy 🍸

The V60

Strength of coffee flavour: 2.5/5
How easy is it? 5/5
Serving size: 1 glass

The easier general method:
• Wet the filter, unless you want a hint of paper-taste in your drink
• Mix your cocktail of choice, e.g. Manhattan, Boulevardier, Espresso Tonic, etc
• Finely grind 15g of coffee and add ground coffee to filter
• Very slowly pour cocktail mixture over ground coffee, starting from the centre and swirling outwards, making sure the coffee grounds are evenly wet
• Let drip and enjoy 🍸

The fussier (cocktail-shaker) general method:
• As above, wet filter
• Grind 15g of coffee to a medium-coarse setting
•  Add both ground coffee and cocktail mixture into a shaker and shake! (Shake for one minute)
•  Pour the shaken mixture through the V60 filter, let drip and enjoy 🍸

 

Recipes

Too many drinks, and too many words, so here are our top three recipes to give you enough mojo for the rest of 2024:

ManhattaN

  • 60ml rye whiskey

  • 30ml sweet vermouth

  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters

  • 2 dashes black walnut bitters (optional)

  • Maraschino cherry

  1. Make cocktail mixture: add all liquid ingredients into a mixing glass with ice

  2. Stir for 45 seconds

  3. Use general method of choice with the cocktail mixture

boulevardier

  • 30ml whiskey

  • 30ml sweet vermouth

  • 30ml Campari

  • Big pinch of salt

  • Orange twist

  • 60ml rye whiskey

  1. Make cocktail mixture: add all ingredients except orange twist into a mixing glass with ice

  2. Stir for 45 seconds

  3. Add pinch of salt to coffee grounds and use general method of choice with the cocktail mixture

  4. Express orange oils over the top and garnish with the twisty

peach espresso tonic

  • 30ml of peach syrup (you can use canned peaches in syrup or make your own)

  • 240ml of Tonic Water

  • Basil and sliced or diced peaches for garnish 

  1. Make cocktail mixture: add tonic and peach syrup together

  2. Stir for 45 seconds

  3. Use general method of choice with the cocktail mixture

  4. Serve the drink in a chilled glass with ice, and garnish with basil and peaches