Have you ever heard of coffee wine? No, not a coffee liqueur, where coffee and some kind of alcohol are mixed by the bartender. Coffee wine is exactly as it’s called – a wine that’s made of coffee.
It’s rich, full, and tastes like red wine at room temperature, and coffee when cooled – are you curious? Then this guide on coffee wine is everything you need to know about this innovative new drink, how it’s made, and how it’s best enjoyed.
What is Coffee Wine?
So first things first, what is coffee wine? Coffee wine is a relatively new innovation in the wine world. It’s new but there has been some buzz about it for quite some time.
Its origins go back to the Philippines, in an area on the North of the capital of Manila, where coffee has been planted and grown since the 1700s. Coffee wine was first produced here, as well as a wide range of their wine varieties that are made from different tropical fruits. Yes, you can make wine from different fruits than grapes.
This is a common misconception when it comes to wine. Most people think of grapes when it comes to wine but you can actually make the beverage out of all kinds of fruit, from strawberries to coconut, peaches, and even pineapples. The base of wine is just fermented sugar, and the fruit merely adds flavor.
With coffee wine, instead of fruit, ungrounded coffee beans are used. And unlike alcoholic coffee drinks that are infused with alcohol, such as Irish coffee and espresso martini, coffee wine involves infusing the coffee beans into the wine during the brewing process. The wine elements and coffee ferment and age together, creating a unique beverage that’s best consumed as a dessert wine, rather than as a pairing to food.
What Does Coffee Wine Taste Like?
Coffee and wine must be joined together in the brewing stage so that the strong flavors both blend and interact. They complement each other rather than overpower one flavor over the other.
The resulting taste is distinct coffee flavors similar to a glass of cold brew as well as notes of fruit due to the fermentation process. As mentioned earlier, at room temperature, it tastes like red wine, but when served cold, it can taste like cold-brewed coffee.
How is Coffee Wine Made?
The process of making coffee wine is actually quite simple. It’s so simple that you can do it at home on your own. It simply involves coffee beans, sugar, water, some form of enzyme, and acid. A home-brewing kit usually has everything you need to make your own coffee wine at home.
Here are the ingredients you’d need to make your very own coffee wine:
- 1-kilo brown sugar
- 250g coffee beans
- 1 quarter teaspoon wine tannins
- of a teaspoon citric acid
- 1 tsp yeast
- 3.5L water
- 1 tsp wine yeast
Here are the steps to making coffee wine:
1. Boil water in a saucepan.
2. Add brown sugar to boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved.
3. Add coffee beans and leave until the water boils again.
4. Remove the saucepan from the pot and let it cool down completely.
5. When the mixture is completely cooled, strain the mixture to separate the coffee beans. Discard the beans. Add wine yeast to the mixture.
6. In a separate container, mix wine tannins, citric acid, and the normal yeast.
7. Mix both mixtures together in one container and cover with a cloth. This will start the fermentation process.
8. Transfer your mixture into a container that’s hermetically sealed. A hermetically sealed container is any container that is designed and intended to be secure against the entry of microorganisms and to maintain the quality and safety of its contents. This can be a jar that has a hermetically sealed lid, or a gallon, just about any container that is tightly sealed and safe from any substance or microorganism.
Keep your mixture inside the container for at least 60 days, before pouring into a bottle.
Where to Buy Coffee Wine?
If making your own coffee wine is out of the question, then there are a few brands of coffee wines that you can buy, though they are far and in between. If you can’t go to the Philippines to buy local coffee wine, then there are two brands available in the US, which are Apothic Brew and Molinari Private Reserve.
Apothic Brew began to produce their own line of cold brew coffee-infused wine in 2018 and this became their signature wine along with their range of California wines. They have a coffee-infused red wine that perfectly blends the two distinct flavors, and is made in one delectable drink.
The wine’s flavor features fruity red notes, a low-key mocha undertone, and toasted oat flavors. It is best enjoyed at room temperature and should be left to breathe in the bottle before serving. Notes of blueberries are also found in the wine.
Molinari Private Reserve is another brand that offers coffee wine. It is a small artisan coffee roaster brand based in Napa Valley. They have a very small production and their coffee wine is locally produced. They only sell it in the owner’s cafe but they do offer their products online. You can buy a subscription from the small company where they send you a monthly supply of coffee wine.
Summary
Coffee wine is a delicious, rich, and full-flavored wine that’s relatively new in the industry but slowly gaining popularity due to small producers like Apothic Brew and Molinari Private Reserve. Apothic Brew released their coffee wine in a limited number so it’s not that readily available to the general public.
But, if you’re curious and want to have a taste of the unique wine, you can make your very own at home with a few simple ingredients and a home brewing kit, or with just a couple of saucepans, and containers.
Merging the best drink in the morning with the best drink in the evening in one delectable beverage, coffee wine is about to become a household name in the wine industry.