The Bean, Unleashed
Coffee and coffee-flavored spirits help operators create new flavor profiles to satisfy the contemporary cocktail drinker.

by RONA GINDIN

Anna-Louise Plowman photographed by Arthur Cohen at New York City’s Gramercy Tavern. Hair and Makeup by Jay Pendley.
Gramercy Tavern’s Mocha Rum Punch satisfies caffeine and rum lovers.

In the good old days, when planes returning from Europe stopped to refuel in Ireland, travelers would occupy themselves in the Shannon airport bar with an unusual concoction of coffee, whiskey and thickened cream. It took a while before the popular pick-me-up made the trip all the way west, but today, Irish Coffee has given birth to a host of imitators and competitors seeking to match the success of the spirit/caffeine connection.

As a variety of beans, grinds, blends, brews and styles of coffee have been established as an integral component of daily American life, bartenders have kept pace by creating new concoctions that combine the popular flavor of coffee with beverage alcohol.

Take, for instance, Cecilia’s, a cigar bar and coffee house in Breckenridge, CO, and its sister jazz club, the Olive. Two of the most popular drinks found in the bar menu titled “Cecilia’s Book of Martinis” are the Espresso Martini, a shaken mix of coffee-flavored Stolichnaya vodka, Kahl