How to Make Homemade Kahlua: Crazy Easy Coffee Liqueur Dupe
Okay, to be honest I don’t know if this can count as a recipe or not. It was too easy of a process to come up with a long blog post, and it was too good to withhold from anyone.
I have been wanting for a while to try a White Russian. I really like coffee, coffee ice cream, tiramisu martinis, and Bailey’s Irish Cream, so I figured a White Russian would be right up my alley. (a White Russian is vodka, coffee liquor, and cream). Twice, I had a bottle of Kahlua in my hands, ready to purchase, and once, I purchased and then immediately felt so guilty I returned it. It is like $25 a bottle, which for alcohol I guess isn’t unreasonable, but I just could not justify spending the money on something that was ultimately just for me to try this one very specific drink.
Then – I can’t even remember how it happened – but I saw on Google a recipe for homemade coffee liqueur. Woah! I hadn’t thought of the obvious possibility of trying to make it myself at home… I looked and the recipe involved rum and other stuff, and required something like thirty days to sit and stew. AGH. I am ready right now to try this, I don’t have the patience to wait. I looked at another recipe, which used vodka, took 30 minutes, and required 12 cups of coffee. Hm. Thirty minutes was still out of my time frame.
I looked in the pantry and found some instant coffee. I wanted to try it with the rum instead of the vodka, although I happened to have both available. I measured just in case it turned out good, to remember later.
2/3 cup of spiced rum,
1/3 cup white sugar (okay, maybe closer to 2/3… but suit your taste/pancreas)
and 2ish spoonfuls (?) of instant coffee (the best instant coffee is Nescafe)
I poured the rum into a sauce pan and heated it up really fast, and then added the sugar and stirred until it was dissolved. Then I added the instant coffee, stirred a little, and removed it from the heat. I poured it into a small contained and put it in the fridge. (I actually then mixed it with some heavy cream, since I was planning on making the White Russian anyway.)
I waited about a total of 60 seconds, figured it was cold enough, and poured it over ice, with vodka. There it was, my White Russian. I added some Bailey’s because, well, Bailey’s (this is NOT a keto friendly beverage), and tried it. It had turned out really good!
I tasted the coffee liqueur by itself also, and although I have never tried coffee liqueur because, as you now know, I could not bring myself to spend the $25 on it, so I can’t promise that it tasted anything like the coffee liqueur you find in the stores – however, I can tell you that it tasted:
1. like coffee
2. like liquor
3. very delicious
So there you have it, if you can’t bring yourself to spend $25 on a bottle of name brand coffee liqueur, or you had a hankering for a White Russian and realized all the liquor stores are closed, you can make this version at home for yourself. Let me know how it goes!
HERE are some drink recipes that include Kahlua coffee liqueur.
Also, if you are looking for some low sugar mixed drinks you can make super fast at home, check out this list of ten easy to make cocktails – most have only two ingredients, and they are so easy that anyone can make them.