Carajillo is a Spanish alcoholic cocktail based on coffee and spirits (brandy, whiskey, rum or sambuca). The name comes from the Spanish word coraje – “courage”. Folklore legends say that the drink was invented by soldiers who added a generous helping of rum to their coffee to be more daring in battle. According to another version, the honor of the invention of carajillo belongs to the Barcelona muleteers – in anticipation of their shift, they often asked to mix their coffee with strong drinks and said “que ara guillo” – “well, I went.” Some researchers believe that the name comes from this modified phrase.
The carajillo drink is not brand specific and is not commercially produced at all – it is a kind of homemade coffee cocktail, and each bartender prepares it in his own way.
Carajillo Recipes
1. The easiest way to make carajillo is to mix espresso and strong alcohol in a 1:1 ratio, add sugar or put it on the table separately so that everyone can sweeten the drink to their liking. However, this ratio can be moved in any direction, depending on the preferences of the taster, and in different regions the drink is prepared a little differently: lemon, spices, and herbs are added to it. In the villages, carajillo is made on the basis of moonshine brandy, sometimes alcohol is first set on fire, and only then coffee is poured into it so that the mixture is not so strong.
2. The classic carajillo recipe looks like this: add coffee beans, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, sugar to one part of a strong distillate. Heat the liquid over medium heat, stirring, until the aroma becomes intense. Pour three parts of coffee into a coffee glass, then pour in hot aromatic alcohol. You can do the opposite – first add alcohol, and then (spoonful) coffee, then the cocktail will turn out to be layered.
3. Americans first pour rum into a glass, then set fire to it, add coffee and coffee liqueur (ingredient proportions 2:1:4). Sometimes in the US, carajillo is served with a topping of whipped cream and the glass is dipped in sugar to form a sweet rim.
4. In Mexico, they love a variation of Carajillo 43 based on the sweet-spicy Spanish liqueur Licor 43. Half fill the tumbler glass with ice and pour 50 ml of liquor into it. Espresso is served separately, the taster himself pours coffee into the liquor, stirs and immediately drinks.
In fact, cooking carajillo is a limitless field for experimentation. You can replace coffee liqueur with orange liqueur or even limit yourself to only two main ingredients, any strong distillate is taken as the basis, including cognac or anything else, the set of spices and seasonings is limited only by the imagination of the author of the recipe. Some lovers drink carajillo bitter, others add sugar, and still others generally serve it with condensed milk.
How to drink Carajillo
Carajillo is most often drunk from small glasses, and they are served in them. Sometimes a whole jug of coffee drink can be brought to the company, then it is called jarrajillo, from the Spanish jarra – “jug”.
Carajillo is mainly served at the end of the meal, as a symbolic end to the meal, like regular coffee. Snacking a drink is not accepted.