Kahlua Cinnamon Spice Review and Cocktail Recipes

Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice is the latest offering from Kahlúa, adding to the brand’s stable of flavors that also includes French Vanilla, Mocha and Hazelnut, to name a few. Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice is a blend of Arabica coffee and sugar cane spirit that’s infused with flavors of cinnamon, cloves and brown sugar. We already know Kahlúa to be a nice addition to coffee, but what else can we do with this liqueur?

For starters, we drank it neat. On the nose, Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice is rich and sweet, with aromas of coffee and cinnamon. Take a sip and it’s more of the same, with lots of sugary sweet coffee notes, plus some cinnamon, molasses and nuts. It tastes pretty good, but is too sweet for drinking straight. Adding a couple ice cubes tones it down a bit, and drinking it cold was more enjoyable than the alternative.

Cocktail wise, we started by adding it to a cup of freshly brewed coffee. This is where Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice really has some value. It turns an ordinary cup of coffee into a hot cup of holiday cheer. It’s not an everyday drink, but we’ll likely employ this simple combo on Christmas morning and the occasional boozy weekend. And employed in a Black Russian recipe, it adds a spice note that takes things up a notch.

From there, Kahlúa recommends the following drink, which we sampled.

Hot Mexican Cider

1.5 oz Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice
3 oz Hot Apple Cider
.25 oz of fresh lemon juice

Shake all ingredients and serve in a glass mug. Garnish with a dash of nutmeg or cinnamon.

Not bad, but with apple cider and lemon juice we prefer a nice dark rum, which adds more depth of flavor without all the sugar.

Montanya Mermalada (Created by Lynnette Marrerro)

1 oz Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice
1 oz Avión Tequila Blanco
1 oz lemon juice
6-8 concord grapes

Muddle Grapes. Add rest of the ingredients. Shake and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.

The tequila added a boozy kick, which tempered the Kahlúa, and the acidic lemon juice kept everything in check.

From there, we decided to craft our own cocktail – a reimagined Rum Old Fashioned – that for now remains nameless.

2 oz dark rum (we used Flor de Cana 7-Year)
2 barspoons Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice
2 dashes orange bitters

Add orange bitters, Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice and a dash of soda. Add rum and stir. Add ice and stir again until cold. Garnish with an orange peel

Not bad. It won’t make it into the nightly rotation, but using Kahlúa as a modifier worked nicely, and its sugar cane backbone seemed a natural fit with the rum.

Overall, Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice has its utility, and we’ll happily use it to spruce up our coffee. But beyond that, we’re not sure its sweet flavor profile aligns well with our boozy sensibilities. Of course, ours are boozier than most, so if your tastes skew toward the sweet, give it a whirl.

Stats:
– 20% Alcohol by Volume
– $20