Carajillo fans rejoice! Licor 43‘s latest installation of their Bartenders and Baristas Challenge has come and gone, crowning a new champion and offering up yet another mouthwatering way to combine espresso and the Spanish liqueur.
Taking place this year in Gran Canaria, Spain, the annual coffee mixology competition asks drink creators from around the world to come up with their best version of a beverage that combines Licor 43 and coffee. After an initial submission round, nine finalists representing Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Estonia, Germany, Mexico, Spain, the UK, and the United States were selected to make their drinks like for an expert panel of judges, including: Lynnette Marrero, the creator of the all-female bartending competition Speed Rack; Dutch Barista Champion Merijn Gijsbers, and 2021 Bartenders & Baristas Challenge winner Thalita Freire, whose passionfruit-based winning cocktail, the Tropicália, I can’t get out of my head.
After the dust had settled on October 20th, the competitor from Colombia, Yeferson Avila of Cardinal and Mar y Zielo in Cartagena, had taken the day with his winning beverage, the Armonía. Similar to the previous year’s winner, Avila leaned into the tropical incorporating pineapple and roasted coconut into this beverage to interplay with the espresso, Licor 43, and Amaro Montenegro he incorporated.
For his efforts, Avila takes home the grand prize of €3,000 to be used on professional courses or equipment as well as serving on the Global Jury for next year’s competition and participating as a guest bartender in international Licor 43 events in 2023.
As with previous years, Licor 43 has posted the recipes for all the Finalist’s cocktails, including Avila’s, which we are reprinting below for your salivatory enjoyment.
Ingredients
23ml Licor 43
7ml Amaro Montenegro
30ml espresso coffee
40ml pineapple extract
2 gr roasted coconutCocktail Preparation
Pour Licor 43 and Amaro Montenegro into the mixing glass
Add coffee and pineapple into the cocktail shaker
Shake and refresh for 8 seconds
First, serve the mixture of Amaro and Licor 43, and then the mixture of pineapple and coffee
Garnish with roasted coconutCoffee Preparation
Coffee used: Caturra Variety
Method of extraction: Espresso
Gr. Of dry coffee used: 20gr
Gr. Of liquid produced: 50ml
Water temperature: 90-95ºC
Extraction time: 25-30 seconds
To get a glimpse of the other eight Finalists so that you can try their recipes for yourself at home, head over to Licor 43’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Images via Licor 43
