The bottle: Bébo coffee liqueur, $26.99
The back story: When most of us think of a boozy coffee drink, we think of Kahlúa, the Mexican liqueur that has long dominated this category. But De Kuyper Royal Distillers, the Dutch company best known for a range of liqueurs, saw an opening for its own cup of joe, so to speak. Hence, it rolled out its Bébo liqueur in Europe last year and is now bringing it to select markets in the U.S.
De Kuyper says what distinguishes Bébo is the fact it uses Cuban coffee to make the product (and not just any Cuban coffee, the company notes, pointing to the fact the java is “cultivated — and hand-picked — by cooperatives in the mountains of the Sierra Maestra in the eastern part of the island”). Moreover, De Kuyper says it favors a combination of hot and cold brewing methods to get the maximum flavor out of the beans.
The end result, the company notes, is a product that doesn’t have to rely on any artificial coloring or flavoring for its look or taste. It also has less sugar than other coffee liqueurs on the market, the company says. “Cuban coffee has a very natural sweetness,” says Peter Iglesias, chief operating office of Royal Dutch Distillers, De Kuyper’s U.S. subsidy.
What we think about it: This is coffee liqueur that tastes like, well, coffee — a mild, honest cup of coffee, that is. It is lightly sweet, but hardly syrupy. And it has some mildly fruity notes that surely speak to the terroir of the beans. In all, a very classy sip that elevates the coffee liqueur category.
How to enjoy it: You can certainly have this neat. But the brand says its poitín is made to be used in cocktails: On its website, it suggests everything from a Scarlett O’Hare (made with the Italian aperitif Aperol) to a Bloody Mooney (a Bloody Mary variation).
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