Name: Coffee Cocktail
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 60 ml Tawny port; 30 ml Cognac (brandy); 15 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 1 fresh Egg (white and yolk)

Coffee Cocktail
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Serve in a Wine glass

Ingredients:
2 oz	Cockburn's Tawny Eyes Port
1 oz	Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
¹⁄₂ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
1 fresh	Egg (white & yolk)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Wine glass.
Prepare garnish of grated nutmeg.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice and strain back into shaker.
DRY SHAKE (without ice).
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
Garnish with dusting of nutmeg grated over cocktail.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Tawny port - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites
Egg (white & yolk) - Eggs

Review:

As the 1887 edition of the Professor's book says, "The name of this drink is a misnomer, as coffee and bitters are not to be found among its ingredients, but it looks like coffee when it has been properly concocted."

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History:

Adapted from a recipe in the posthumously published 1887 Jerry Thomas' Bar-tenders Guide (Jerry "The Professor" Thomas died 15th December 1885).

Coffee Cocktail.
(Use a large bar-glass.)
Take 1 tea-spoonful powdered white sugar.
1 fresh egg.
1 large wine-glass of port wine.
1 pony of brandy.
2 or 3 lumps of ice.
Break the egg into the glass, put the sugar, and lastly the port wine, brandy and ice.
Shake up very thoroughly and strain into a medium bar goblet. Grate a little nutmeg on top before serving.
The name of this drink is a misnomer, as coffee and bitters are not to be found among its ingredients, but it looks like coffee when it has been properly connected, and hence probably its name.
Jerry Thomas' Bar-tenders Guide, 1887

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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james McMakin

23rd June 2024 at 19:54

I didn't want to open a new bottle of port before leaving for vacation so substituted byrrh that I was trying to finish up. It was good but more subdued than the original.

Chris Dimal

20th May 2023 at 08:41

I got the colour which @Gregory Moreton obtained. But Jerry Thomas says that it should look like coffee if made correctly. But I don't think I did it incorrectly. Hmm. Tasted decent, if a bit fruitier than I would expect. I did use a French Grape Brandy, not a Cognac.

Gregory Moreton

26th March 2022 at 23:06

Excelent drink. I followed the recipie with the addition of 2 drops of saline and the resulting cocktail is delicious.. The colour is not as per the picture the port giving a loveley purple tinge to it. subline none the less