Too Much Coffee – Mancino Kopi Vermouth

You probably noticed that I like coffee flavoured cocktails. Of course, there is the Espresso Martini, but it is also fun to add coffee flavour to drinks which you usually do not link to coffee right away. In this case I went a little crazy and added as many coffee flavours I possibly could to a Negroni-style cocktail. Be warned, this one will figuratively keep you awake at night!

I guess you could almost call it a trend to add coffee to different styles of spirits. Now you can find coffee gin, coffee liqueurs, coffee eau de vies and one new style of product coffee vermouth. The Mancino Kopi blends different Italian white wines from the Arneis, Trebbiano and Fiano varieties with 0,5 % coffee per 0,5 l bottle. This equals 14 Robusta coffee beans from Java which were roasted to a dark roast by Barbera Caffè in Naples.

Vermouth and coffee

Even though the Mancino Kopi is made from white wine it reminds me of a sweet vermouth. You slightly notice the coffee, but it does not overwhelm the taste of the vermouth. Apart from that, you get characteristic herbal vermouth notes with some spices lingering in the back. I especially, tasted thyme and rosemary. All in all, it is beautifully balanced with a medium sweetness and just a touch of coffee.

Yes, coffee eau de vie!

Although this is not a new product, the Freimeister Kollektiv Mahembe coffee eau de vie is well worth taking a look at. It is a cooperation between Josef Farthofer the renown Austrian distiller and Ralf Rüller a famous coffee roaster from Berlin. For the eau de vie Josef distils the coffee from Mahembe red bourbon beans with a wheat fine distillate. Afterwards the spirit is diluted to a drinking strength of 40 % ABV.

Earthy roast flavours

The Mahembe is different from the other coffee eau de vies from the Freimeister Kollektiv. It is less fruity with a distinct earthy note. Yes, you get typical coffee and dark chocolate flavours, but on top of it all lies a strong earthy flavour. It almost reminded me of burnt cacao powder. Nevertheless, in my opinion it is brilliant for adding coffee flavour to each and every cocktail you desire to!

Is it too much coffee?

Well, yes this probably is too much coffee for a drink. However, it still is fun to stack a lot of similar flavours on top of each other to aceive a multiplex taste. Yes, I probably could have used either just the coffee gin or a regular gin and the coffee eau de vie. Yes, I did not have to add an extra dash of cold drip essence. Yet, if you have it at hand anyway, why not use it? While I built the drink around the Kopi vermouth, it is nicely balanced instead of just having a lot of coffee flavour. Apart from that, I knew from former experience that the Nardini Amaro works very well with coffee flavours, so I used it instead of Campari.

The first thing you taste is of course coffee! A lot of coffee ranging from filter coffee and espresso. It is not as similar to the Negroni as I might have thought, but this is mainly due to the Nardini Amaro. Nevertheless, it works very well with the coffee notes. In the back of the taste you get hints reminiscent of Fernet. This is also why for me the “Too Much Coffee” almost tends towards a Hanky Panky cocktail. Yet, if you like coffee and amaros this is the perfect cocktail for you!

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The coffee eau de vie was provided by Freimeister Kollektiv and the vermouth by Perola.