Homemade Coffee Liqueur
from http://www.seriouseats.com/

Coffee and alcohol are two of the best beverages on the planet, so combining them is just common sense. Most liquor stores carry coffee liqueur, usually Kahlua and Tia Maria. Kahlua is probably the most well known.

A lot of people find Kahlua too sweet for use in anything but a classic White Russian, though. A little extra legwork can pay off for coffee liqueur connoisseurs. Firelit Spirits Coffee Liqueur is made with small-batch freshly roasted cold-brewed coffee and brandy, so it tastes more like a cup of coffee than a sugary treat. Kahlua loyalists may find it too aggressive both in coffee flavor and alcohol content. Fair Cafe liqueur falls somewhere between Kahlua and Firelit, with strong coffee flavor and a less sweet taste but a bit less intensity than Firelit.

Homemade coffee liqueur tastes rich and full without any syrupy sweetness. Just like with coffee, not everyone takes their coffee liqueur the same way. If you're picky about coffee, you can use your favorite beans in your own liqueur, and you have the option of playing with the spirit base as well. You can mix light and aged rums for more complexity. Not a rum person? Then try bourbon or vodka instead. Or follow Kahlua's lead and flavor your concoction with cinnamon, hazelnut, or peppermint. The quick steeping time means no patience is required.

DIY coffee liqueur tastes like like a fresh cup of coffee with added depth from rum and just enough sugar to make it great for sipping or mixing—or baking and dessert garnishing. The quick steeping time means no patience is required.

Kahlua is a rich, dark brown coffee liqueur made from the finest Mexican coffee, with fine cane spirits and a hint of vanilla. It also contains sugar, corn syrup and vodka, and has a thicker body than most other alcoholic beverages. Kahlua's ingredients, as reported by the manufacturer, include: high fructose corn syrup/sugar, cane spirit, coffee extract (cane spirit, sugar, water, caramel), neutral grain spirit, water and wine. The caramel is not derived from gluten grains, but the neutral grain spirit contains wheat-based distilled alcohol, the manufacturer says.

Notes: When hot coffee cools down, it loses some of its good qualities. Cold brewing the coffee keeps bitter and overly acidic flavors from taking over. Turbinado sugar is also known as raw sugar, and is available at most grocery stores. You can substitute other types of sugar if desired. When vodka is used as the base spirit, this drink will turn out much like Mexican Kahlua. If you substitute dark rum for the vodka, it will taste more like Jamaican Tia Maria.

FMM: We made this according to the recipe and when I tasted it, I thought "Kahlua." But we had a little bit of Kahlua left in a bottle, which we taste tested against, and found Kahlua thicker, perhaps a little higher proof, a little bit sweeter, and with a richer caramel or spice flavor than our homemade. I'm wondering whether we should have made this with dark rum or a spice rum, or perhaps carmelized the sugar mixture a bit. Using dark brown sugar may be another option. We did use raw sugar. Still, the homemade liqueur was quite good. One recipe I ran across added (besides the vanilla bean) 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tablespoon cocoa nibs, and 1 slice of orange peel (optional). They also used dark rum for part of the liquor in the recipe.

1/4 cup fine ground espresso coffee
2 1/4 cup water (divided)
1 cup turbinado sugar (raw sugar) - substitute light brown sugar
1 cup water
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 cups light rum

Cold brew the coffee by combining the grounds and 1 1/4 cups of the water into a sealable glass jar, shaking it, then refrigerating the mixture for 12 hours. Strain through a coffee filter into another sealable glass jar.

Combine the sugar and 1 cup of water in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let this syrup cool to room temperature.

Add cooled syrup, vanilla bean, and rum to the glass jar that contains the coffee. Let that mixture steep for 3 days, then remove the vanilla bean and bottle the liqueur.

Makes about 3 cups (750 ml bottle = 3.17 cups)

Homemade Coffee Liqueur (Kahlua)
from http://localfoods.about.com/

This easy homemade coffee liqueur is just like Kahlua, only more delicious. Seriously. The vanilla beans add tons of flavor, making the deep coffee flavor all the more tempting. If you get started in time (this takes 4 to 6 weeks to sit and allow the flavors to develop), this makes a great gift.

3 cups sugar
2 cups water
3/4 cup instant espresso (dried powder, not made into espresso)
2 vanilla beans
3 cups vodka

Bring the 3 cups of sugar and 2 cups water to a boil, stirring as needed to dissolve the sugar. Add the coffee and reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook, stirring to dissolve the espresso fully and completely, for about 2 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and transfer to a large glass jar or seal-able pitcher. Let the mixture sit until more or less cool. Meanwhile, split the vanilla beans open and use the back of a knife or a small spoon and scoop out the teeny tiny seeds (it seems more like a paste than seeds). Add the seeds and pods to the coffee syrup. Pour in the copious amount of vodka.

Seal the container and put it away for 4 to 6 weeks.

When you're ready to transfer the mixture to jars or use it, remove and discard the vanilla pods. If you want an ultra-smooth syrupy liqueur, be sure to run the whole thing though a coffee filter or several layers of cheesecloth first.

Serve chilled on its own, in coffee, or over ice cream as a dessert.

Yield: About 1 quart