Next week is Christmas. And on Christmas morning, we will all drink at least one coffee. Maybe one (or more) until after dinner on Christmas Eve, or an espresso martini as an aperitif, or something else with coffee for digestion. The possibilities are many. So let's take a closer look at coffee and Christmas and even find some traditions that belong to both, or at least go well together.
Coffee and Christmas – a perfect match
Coffee is very versatile. You can drink it, use it for cooking or cocktails, and even eat it. It mixes easily with almost anything because it has bitter, sweet, floral and fruity notes. With its chocolate and nutty notes, it also goes well with any kind of Christmas drink or dish. That's why we rummaged through the archives and found a few recipes and traditions that combine coffee and Christmas.
Coffee and Christmas – Caffè sospeso
The Caffè sospeso is not a coffee and Christmas tradition per se. Nevertheless, it fits well with the upcoming festival and is still popular in Italy at Christmas. The Caffè sospeso is a Neapolitan custom that originated at the beginning of the 20th century. In bars or cafés, you simply ordered one more coffee than you needed, paid for it and the barista remembered it. The excess coffee was then later given out free of charge to people in need. Today, this tradition is revived, especially at Christmas time - in the spirit of the festival of charity.
Coffee and Christmas – the Greenlanders
Coffee has a very special culture in the Scandinavian countries. The Finns, for example, are world champions in coffee drinking. But the Greenlanders have also perfected the enjoyment of coffee. Especially at Christmas - there is the so-called Kaffemik. The Kaffemik is an all-day open coffee drinking event with cakes and other delicacies, where the focus is on socializing. This is not - strictly speaking - a Christmas tradition, but it is often celebrated around Christmas. Friends and relatives are invited and the festival of love is celebrated with family and friends. Even as a stranger you can be invited to a Kaffeemik. There are two important rules - in addition to drinking coffee and socializing: bring a small gift for the host and take off your shoes before entering the house.
Coffee and Christmas – also when eating and drinking
As mentioned at the beginning, coffee goes well with many different dishes and drinks thanks to its variety of flavors. The chocolatey and sweet nuances can be combined excellently at Christmas. This is also evidenced by an excerpt from the US cookbook "The Kansas Home Cook-Book" from 1886. It describes in detail what a perfect Christmas meal should look like. It describes how to set the table, what to serve when, how to prepare it, what to garnish with and what to serve with the main courses. After all the courses have been named and dessert and fruit have been served, the drink of choice to end the Christmas party is coffee.
Coffee and Christmas – the drinks
Let's look at the drinks first. Here you can basically let your creativity run wild. Since coffee combines sweetness, acidity, chocolate, nuts, floral notes and much more, you can mix almost anything with coffee and create a Christmas cocktail.
Coffee and Christmas – Aperitif with alcohol
An aperitif is a great option before a sumptuous Christmas meal - just like before any sumptuous meal. If it contains alcohol, we can safely recommend the Coffee Negroni or an Espresso Martini. Both are well-known and tried-and-tested aperitifs or pre-dinner cocktails, just with a shot of coffee or cold brew.
Coffee and Christmas – aperitif without alcohol
We also have a tasty non-alcoholic aperitif in stock, because it doesn't always have to be alcohol. We also make a variation of the Mint Julep, which is considered to be the first cocktail ever: a ginger coffee julep.
Ingredients:
- Ice
- Fresh mint
- Sugar
- espresso
- ginger beer or ginger ale
Put the mint and sugar in a glass and crush them lightly, then fill the glass with crushed ice. Then pour an espresso on top and top up with the ginger beer or ginger ale (depending on whether you like it sweet or slightly spicy).
The Mint Julep is not explicitly an aperitif, but it is very suitable for one, especially if you don't make it too sweet. So it's better to use ginger beer.
Coffee and Christmas – Digestif without alcohol
Christmas dinner can start with coffee and end with coffee. The drink of choice as a digestif is best simply a cup of coffee or an espresso. To make the whole thing a little more Christmassy, you could refine your espresso with cinnamon or cardamom. It is easy to prepare - depending on how you make your espresso, you can add a pinch of powdered cinnamon or cardamom. Or you can add the crushed cardamom pods to the coffee water if you are making a Turkish mocha or the cinnamon stick to the water if you are using the stovetop kettle. Both cinnamon and cardamom have a positive effect on digestion.
Coffee and Christmas – Digestif with alcohol
And if you want a digestif with a shot - which is fine at Christmas - then we can recommend the Black or White Russian, for example. Both cocktails are considered digestifs and are originally made with a coffee liqueur. You can easily replace this with a freshly brewed espresso or cold brew.
Black Russian:
- 4 cl vodka
- 2 cl espresso
- Pour both into a tumbler with ice.
White Russian:
- 4 cl vodka
- 2 cl espresso
- Lightly whipped cream
Mix vodka and espresso as you would for a Black Russian and then top with lightly whipped cream.
If you want it to be even more Christmassy, you can round off the White Russian with a pinch of cinnamon or cardamom, which is good for digestion and looks good on the cream.
Coffee and Christmas – the dishes
This section will be short because it's a blog. And you could fill entire cookbooks with recipes that use coffee. Coffee goes well in cakes or other desserts, such as tiramisu . You can also use coffee and orange juice to make a wonderfully fresh, fruity vinaigrette for your Christmas salad. You can rub steaks with coffee (and other spices) before grilling. Pumpkin and coffee also go very well together, whether in your soup or grilled. To be honest, the choice is so large that it was difficult for us to make a selection for you. You can either experiment and replace an ingredient in a popular dish with coffee, or add coffee, or you can look for a suitable recipe on the Internet. We recently made chili con carne and added a good shot of coffee: it went perfectly.
With this in mind, Merry Christmas, happy experimentation and good enjoyment.
