Do you know someone who loves Puerto Rican coffee and Puerto Rican rum? Well, then I have a gift you can make them that is fast, easy, delicious, and screams Puerto Rico. Wepa! Using a good smooth, clear Puerto Rican rum and delicious Puerto Rican coffee, you can support the local Puerto Rican businesses, and share some yummy, home-made happiness!

It’s sort of like Kahlúa, but with a Puerto Rican twist!

We were introduced to this basic recipe at the Club Caribe Distillery in Caguas during a tour, and we really liked it. So we will share it with you, so you can make it for yourself or make it to give as gifts.

When we made this recipe, we used Club Caribe Silver because they showed us how to make it using the marks on the bottle design. But we made some measurements, and now you can use your favorite Puerto Rican rum in the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 bottle (750ml) clear Puerto Rican rum
• ¼ to ½ cup roasted Puerto Rican coffee beans
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 vanilla bean (optional)

Procedure

1. Remove about ½ cup of rum from 750ml bottle of clear rum. You don’t want to waste this, so make yourself a nice Cuba Libre or Piña Colada to enjoy while working on this recipe.
2. Add the coffee beans to rum bottle. At first they will float, but as they absorb rum, they will sink to the bottom.
3. If you want, add a vanilla bean to the bottle, too.
4. Gently shake the bottle every so often for 3-4 days. It will get to be a nice dark caramel color as it steeps.
5. After it has steeped for a couple days, strain out the coffee (and vanilla) beans.
   Tip → Don’t throw them out. You can dry the coffee beans, grind them and then use them for a real “pick me up” cup of coffee! And add the vanilla bean (split lengthwise and cut into inch long pieces) to 1 cup of sugar. After 2 weeks, you will get coffee-flavored sugar to use in your coffee!

Now you get to drink again … Try a shot of your coffee rum … it will be strong, but should have a good, coffee flavor.

To make it more like Kahlúa, to have as an after-dinner drink, or to use in other recipes, do the following …

1. Prepare 1 cup of simple syrup (Add 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water. Boil for about 5 minutes until it is syrupy, stirring constantly. Let this mixture cool.)
2. Add 1 cup of simple syrup to the bottle of coffee rum to fill up the bottle.
3. Shake well and Enjoy!

It gets even better with age. Make enough to give as gifts for others and to yourself!

Suggested Uses

We use it to make Bushwackers, as a substitute for Kahlúa. But we have friends who add it to their coffee as a nice touch, or on the rocks, either plain or with milk.

Other recipes I have seen for coffee-infused rum use a cup of espresso coffee, ground coffee, or instant coffee. This one was just the one we were shown, and it looked cool with the beans in the bottle!

Remember to drink responsibly, and never drink & drive.

PuertoRicoDayTrips.com assumes no responsibility regarding your safety when participating in the activities described in this article. Please use common sense! If your mother or that little voice in your head tells you that you are about to do something stupid … then don't do it! Read more about Safety →