Carl's Coffee

We have a restaurant in our town called Art and Alma's,  Century Inn. This restaurant is as old as the town itself. Although the food is really good, the bar is great! They have a bartender there by the name of Brenda. Brenda came to Burlington by way of a snazzy restaurant in Denver. Let's just say that she is quite the mixologist and I love to pick her brain.

Pat and I had meandered in there for dinner one night and stopped by the bar on our way out to grab a drink before the walk back home. Looking up on the "bar board", I noticed a drink called "Carl's Coffee" and it got me to wonderin'. I asked Brenda what it was... she described it...I ordered it and the rest is history.

Now, poor Brenda,who as I said is a mixologist, not your run of the mill bartender or drink pourer, can never get away from me asking 50 million questions, as she is making my drinks (or anyone elses drinks, for that matter) and this drink was no different. I am almost like a five year old child with the "what, who, why and where" questions. If it was me, I would have been diving into the back room when I saw me mosey up to the bar, but not Brenda. She is a trooper and answers my questions!!

So, thanks to Carl who gave the recipe to Brenda and here we go:

Ahhh, just playin'....A few pointers first:

1) Use a clear glass coffee mug, if available. This is a beautiful drink and it really needs to be shown off.

2) You are not limited to  the Kahlua mentioned in the "formal" recipe and,  in fact, the real recipe calls for Tia Maria. I didn't have it at the time and found out the Kahlua and Tia Maria are basically the same type of liqueur. One is from Jamaica (Tia Maria) and one is from Mexico. OK, enough for the liqueur lessons! I have also used the flavors of Kahlua (although the cream based ones detract from the beauty of this drink), Di Sarrono and Frangelico.

3) Be sure to use heavy whipping cream, NOT HALF AND HALF!! Trust me, the first time I made this, I screwed it up and used the half and half!

Now, here we go:

Ingredients:

5 oz HOT coffee
1 shot Kahlua, Tia Marie, Frangelico or DiSaronno~whichever you are in the mood for!
1 T. brown sugar
Heavy creamer

Directions:

1. Place brown sugar and liqueur in the mug. Stir to blend.
2. Pour in coffee

3. Place tip of spoon in coffee..just enough to break surface tension.
4. Slowly pour heavy cream over back of spoon to create layering effect. I went a bit crazy with the cream above to show how it should look. The amount of cream should actually be about 1/4 of a cup!
5. ENJOY!