Alpine Carnival
A tall glass of light, sweet coffee with a generous splash of clear fruit brandy, the kind of drink passed round in the Alps on a freezing carnival night. It is built on the Swiss Kafi Luz: more schnapps than you expect, and the coffee kept deliberately weak.
At a glance
- Coffee : schnapps
- 3:1
- Active time
- 2 min
- Total time
- 6 min
- Makes
- 1 glass
- Serve
- Hot
- Kit
- Heatproof glass
Ingredients
Note: The coffee is weak on purpose. Swiss tradition says it should be thin enough to see a coin through it at the bottom of the glass.
Method
-
Brew it light
Make a weak coffee, about half the strength you would usually drink. In the Swiss version, a little coffee is brewed and diluted with hot water.
3 to 4 minutes -
Sugar in, stir
Drop the sugar into the hot coffee and stir until it dissolves.
-
Schnapps last
Pour in the fruit brandy, stir once and serve. In Lucerne the brandy often comes in a separate small glass, so each drinker pours their own.
Why this works
The balance is the reverse of most spiked coffees. Usually a small amount of spirit seasons a strong coffee. Here, a light, sweet coffee carries a large measure of clear fruit brandy. The coffee adds warmth, a little bitterness and some roast. The schnapps brings most of the flavour: pear, cherry or plum, sharp and fragrant.
The coffee is kept weak for flavour as well as tradition. Strong coffee and a lot of spirit together taste harsh. A thin coffee lets the fruit brandy's aroma come through, and its hot vapour carries that aroma straight to the nose as you lift the glass. Sugar softens the alcohol's bite and rounds off the coffee.
Clear fruit brandies, eaux-de-vie, are distilled from fermented fruit and not aged in wood, so they keep a sharp, pure fruit smell. That is very different from a brandy or whisky in coffee, which bring oak, caramel and vanilla. It makes this a lighter, brighter drink, though not a weaker one.
This version is built on the Swiss Kafi Luz, Lucerne's schnapps coffee, which is drunk in quantity through the city's carnival, Fasnacht, in late winter. A close relative, Kafi Fertig, is made the same way across central Switzerland. Norway's karsk is the northern cousin, using the same coin test and even more spirit.
Variations
- Kafi Luz: the Lucerne original, with Träsch, a schnapps made from pears and apples.
- With kirsch: cherry brandy, which is the most widely available.
- With whipped cream: a spoon of cream on top for a richer, less traditional drink.
- Lighter: 25 ml of brandy, which a Lucerner would call water.
Contains a large measure of spirit, about a third of the glass. Not for children, drivers, or anyone avoiding alcohol.
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Questions
What is Alpine carnival coffee?
This version is a Swiss-style schnapps coffee: weak, sweet hot coffee with a generous measure of clear fruit brandy, as drunk in Lucerne during carnival.
What is Kafi Luz?
Lucerne's traditional coffee with schnapps, usually Träsch, a pear and apple brandy, with sugar and very weak coffee. It is especially associated with Fasnacht, the Lucerne carnival.
Why is the coffee so weak?
Tradition, and flavour. A light coffee lets the fruit brandy's aroma come through. A strong coffee with that much spirit tastes harsh.
What schnapps should I use?
A clear fruit brandy: pear, plum, kirsch or Swiss Träsch. Avoid sweet schnapps liqueurs, which are a different drink.