Whiskey Barrel-Aged Coffee is Back!

In full force this beautiful Oregon White Winter Wheat Whiskey by Branch Point Distillery, dances with our Caravan Guatemala Monte Cristo creating a full bodied, syrupy sweet coffee that lingers with spiced tropical fruits and a vanillin butterscotch aftertaste. Like a great whiskey, this coffee should be savored and pondered long.

So How Does Whiskey Coffee Really Work?

There is no actual alcohol in this coffee. The green (unroasted) coffee was never in touch with alcohol. However, the coffee was first suspended in mesh bags in each of 3 unique whiskey barrels - which still hold a wonderfully pungent punch of aromatics. Those whiskey vapors seep into the green coffee for 24-48-72 hours as we rotate through the x3 barrels for consistency and complexity.

Coffee is Hygroscopic.

Have you ever heard when buying a used car, "throw coffee grounds onto the carpet for a couple weeks to make it smell better"? Well it's true! Coffee not only smells great, but it is also hygroscopic. That means it absorbs aromas from it's environment and generally gives off it's moisture. Seldom does coffee absorb moisture - except when "soaked" in the moist and potent aromas of a fresh whiskey barrel.

Under normal conditions our Guatemala Monte Cristo coffee is stored near 10% moisture. This means the green coffee is very dry. However when subjected to a closed whiskey barrel that moisture increases a whopping 1% - 2%. In relative terms that is a 10-20% moisture content increase. And that moisture is full of Branch Point Whiskey aromas like: tropical fruits, banana, clove, vanilla and charred American oak.

Coffee Must Be Roasted.

The beautiful thing about green coffee turning brown is that when it is tossed into a 350-450 degree rotating coffee drum for 8-12 minutes, countless invisible physical and chemical reactions take place. Any potential alcohol vapors are eliminated, but the result is an entirely new pysio-chemical compound combination in this little coffee bean. Through the transformation of whiskey barrel aging to the application of thermodynamics on this little coffee seed - something beautiful and brown and tasty results.