Coffee Drink
Café Brûlot: New Orleans Tradition and a Home Recipe
Café brûlot is a New Orleans after-dinner coffee cocktail with brandy, citrus peel and warm spices. This unflamed home version makes four small servings: infuse the coffee, strain it, then add the spirits.
Drink Snapshot
- Caffeine
- 48 mg reference120 g (4.2 oz) of the prepared coffee input per servingReference for one quarter of the starting coffee; brew strength and straining losses vary.
- Calories
- Estimated 105 kcalSpecified spirits, coffee and measured sugarIngredient estimate using the named spirits; discarded peel and spices are excluded.
Serving, sugar and sources
- Serving
- 1 small serving: one quarter of the strained batch
- Made with
- Brewed coffee, brandy, orange liqueur, citrus peel and whole spices
- Sugar
- Estimated 5 g total. 3 g from granulated sugar, 1.69 g from Cointreau and 0.30 g from the named brandy per quarter-batch serving.
- Preparation
- About 12 minutes, including a 4-minute infusion
Named spirit tables checked 25 September 2026; USDA generic ingredient references. See the full calculation or label comparison.
Key Takeaways
- 1Choose café brûlot for citrus and warm spice in black coffee, without the cream cap of Irish coffee.
- 2Whole spices and thin peel give a fragrant infusion that can be strained for a clean finish.
- 3The home recipe keeps the coffee-and-brandy combination in a simple unflamed preparation.
On This Page10 Sections
What Does Café Brûlot Taste Like?
Café brûlot is fragrant and warming: orange and lemon rise above the coffee, followed by cinnamon, clove and a lingering brandy finish. Sugar and orange liqueur soften the coffee’s bitter edge, while the drink stays relatively light in texture because it is served without cream. The appeal is aromatic depth rather than a thick, milky sweetness.
In my unflamed batch, clove lingered after the brighter orange aroma faded. I start with the listed four-minute infusion and strain promptly so that warm finish does not take over the coffee. Whole spices are easy to strain out, keeping the texture clear. Plain brewed coffee works for this recipe; coffee with chicory is another New Orleans option.
Preparation and Recipe
Unflamed Home Café Brûlot
Divide the finished batch equally among four cups.
Arnaud’s published preparation establishes the restaurant’s coffee, brandy, citrus, orange liqueur and spice combination. The quantities and coffee-first infusion here are a home adaptation. We strain before adding the spirits and do not reproduce the restaurant flame service.
Recipe
Unflamed Home Café Brûlot
- Makes:
- 4 small servings
- Time:
- About 12 minutes
Ingredients
- 480 g (16.9 oz) freshly brewed black coffee
- 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) St-Rémy VSOP brandy at 40% ABV
- 30 ml (1 US fl oz) Cointreau Original orange liqueur at 40% ABV
- 12 g (3 US tsp) granulated sugar
- 4 thin orange-peel strips, 5 cm (2 inches) long, little white pith
- 2 thin lemon-peel strips, 5 cm (2 inches) long, little white pith
- 1 small cinnamon stick, 5 cm (2 inches) long
- 4 whole cloves
Equipment
- Coffee brewer
- Scale and millilitre measure
- Small lidded saucepan and spoon
- Fine strainer and heatproof jug
- Four 180–200 ml (6.1–6.8 US fl oz) heatproof cups
Method
- Warm the coffee, sugar, citrus peels, cinnamon and cloves over low heat until steaming. Stir to dissolve the sugar without boiling.
- Remove from the heat, cover and infuse for 4 minutes. Warm the four cups with hot water, then empty them.
- Strain into the heatproof jug, removing the peels and spices. Stir in the brandy and orange liqueur away from the heat.
- Divide equally among the four cups and serve without igniting.
Estimated nutrition: 105 kcal · 5 g total sugar. Per quarter-batch serving, using St-Rémy VSOP and Cointreau Original.
Choosing the Coffee and Orange Liqueur
Brew drinking-strength coffee you enjoy black, then weigh 480 g (16.9 oz) for the batch; the drip-coffee guide covers the preparation. Use the same prepared-coffee weight for a decaf version. Espresso concentrate is not a direct replacement: its caffeine and flavor concentration differ. Decaf needs its own caffeine reference and is not necessarily caffeine-free.
Choose an orange liqueur whose sweetness you like and check its strength. This recipe and its figures use 40% ABV for both spirits. A different curaçao, triple sec or brandy may have a different alcohol and sugar content.
Café Brûlot vs. Other Coffee Cocktails
| Drink | What distinguishes it in these guides |
|---|---|
| Café brûlot | Coffee, brandy, citrus peel and whole spices; served black in this home recipe |
| Irish coffee | Irish whiskey and sweetened coffee beneath a cream float |
| Rüdesheimer Kaffee | Brandy coffee topped with vanilla-sweetened cream and chocolate |
| Spanish coffee cocktail | A separate coffee-cocktail tradition; check the recipe’s spirits and topping |
A cream topping changes the balance and nutrition. Start with this drink black so the citrus-and-spice infusion remains the central feature.
Café Brûlot Troubleshooting
| What you notice | Adjustment for the next batch |
|---|---|
| Clove overwhelms the coffee | Try 2 whole cloves instead of 4, or shorten the infusion |
| Bitter citrus finish | Peel more thinly and remove excess white pith |
| Gritty texture | Use whole spices and a fine strainer; avoid ground cinnamon in the liquid |
| Coffee tastes flat | Brew shortly before infusing and keep it below a boil |
| Too sweet | Reduce the measured sugar; remember that the orange liqueur still adds sugar |
| Too spirit-forward | Reduce the measured spirits next time or serve smaller portions |
Avoid extending the heating simply to keep a whole batch ready. Warm the cups, finish the infusion close to serving and pour promptly.
Café Brûlot in New Orleans Dining Rooms
Café brûlot diabolique is a theatrical finish to a New Orleans meal. In traditional restaurant service, a silver bowl, citrus peel and flaming brandy become part of a performance at the table. Coffee joins the spiced mixture before it is served in small cups.
The drink is closely associated with Jules Alciatore of Antoine’s, though its exact beginnings are unsettled. Historian Sue Strachan, interviewed in an account hosted by the restaurant, also points to the French tradition of brûlot made with Armagnac and sugar. The New Orleans version has its own enduring identity: coffee, citrus and spice presented as an occasion in the dining room.
Café Brûlot Caffeine, Alcohol and Sugar
Each quarter-batch serving has estimated totals of 105 kcal, 5 g total sugar and 48 mg reference caffeine. The specified spirits contribute 15 ml (0.5 US fl oz) pure alcohol per serving before incidental losses.
The spirits go in after heating, so the drink remains alcoholic. A brief flame in another recipe is not evidence that its alcohol is gone, and caffeine does not reverse alcohol’s effects.
Serving calculation and sources
One serving is one quarter of this batch. We scale the starting ingredients equally, using the named spirit tables and generic USDA references. Infusion losses and compounds extracted from the discarded peel and spices are not measured.
Swipe to see all columnsScroll to see all columns
| Ingredient allocated to one serving | Calories | Total sugar |
|---|---|---|
| 120 g brewed coffee | 1.2 kcal | 0 g reference |
| 30 ml St-Rémy VSOP, 40% ABV | 67.5 kcal | 0.30 g |
| 7.5 ml Cointreau Original, 40% ABV | 23.3 kcal | 1.69 g |
| 3 g granulated sugar | 11.6 kcal | 2.99 g |
| Calculated estimate | 103.6 kcal, displayed as 105 | 5 g |
The St-Rémy table gives 225 kcal and 1 g sugar per 100 ml for its 40% VSOP. Its 36% and 37% versions have separate columns. Cointreau’s Australia table gives 311 kcal and 22.5 g sugar per 100 ml; we use that same column consistently rather than mixing rounded serving values. Check your own bottle and market.
For caffeine, 120 g × 40 mg / 100 g = 48 mg using USDA’s generic brewed-coffee reference.
Alcohol calculation: (30 ml × 0.40) + (7.5 ml × 0.40) = 15 ml pure alcohol per serving before incidental losses.
Make a Smaller Café Brûlot Batch
For two servings, halve the main ingredients: 240 g (8.5 oz) prepared coffee, 60 ml (2 US fl oz) brandy, 15 ml (0.5 US fl oz) orange liqueur and 6 g (1½ US tsp) sugar, with two orange-peel strips, one lemon-peel strip, half the cinnamon stick and two cloves. Start with the same 4-minute off-heat infusion, then adjust the spice strength next time. Each half-batch portion uses the same ingredient allocation as the four-serving version.
For an alcohol-free alternative, omit both spirits and serve the spiced coffee as a separate drink. Replace the missing orange aroma with fresh peel to taste.
Common Questions
Does café brûlot have to be flamed?
Is café brûlot made with chicory coffee?
Does the alcohol cook off?
How many servings does this recipe make?
Can I use a different brandy or orange liqueur?
Editor's Take
Sources and Further Reading
9 references
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Tradition and recipe context
- Restaurant preparationArnaud’s Restaurant · Primary ingredient and service account; its Jean Lafitte origin story is explicitly a legend.(opens in a new tab)
- Café brûlot on the menuArnaud’s Restaurant · Restaurant description of the citrus, spice and flamed-brandy presentation.(opens in a new tab)
- Competing origin accountsAntoine’s Restaurant · Hosted account of the Jules Alciatore association and other local stories.(opens in a new tab)
Serving calculations
- Brandy nutrition tablePDFSt-Rémy · 40% VSOP column: 225 kcal and 1 g sugar per 100 ml. PDF visually checked.(opens in a new tab)
- Cointreau Original nutritionCointreau Australia · 40% ABV; 311 kcal and 22.5 g sugar per 100 ml in the selected market table.(opens in a new tab)
- Prepared brewed coffee, FDC 171890USDA FoodData Central · Generic reference per 100 g: 1 kcal, 0 g sugar, 40 mg caffeine. Applied to the prepared coffee input, not dry grounds.(opens in a new tab)
- Granulated sugar, FDC 169655USDA FoodData Central · Generic per 100 g: 387 kcal and 99.8 g total sugar.(opens in a new tab)