Low Carb Keto Coffee Liqueur

When you’re on keto or just trying to stay low-carb, it can feel difficult to properly enjoy cocktail night with your friends. Drinks White Russians or Espresso Martinis are some of my favorites, but traditionally, these are very sugary drinks that are simply off limits. But fear not, we’ve got you covered. 

We’ve experimented with a few different recipes and we’ve found a keto coffee liqueur that tastes just as good as Kahlua. And not only is our keto coffee liqueur extremely low carb, but it’s fantastically delicious and easy to make too! So, if you want to enjoy coffee based drinks again without getting out of ketosis, here is our recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cups overproof rum
• 1 cup dark roast coffee
• 1/2 vanilla bean  
• 1/2 cinnamon stick  
• Keto simple syrup

How to make low carb keto liqueur

Start by grinding your coffee beans or if you don’t have a grinder, mash them up with either a mortar and pestles or any other tools you have. The point isn’t to get a completely fine powder but rather to help the beans release their flavor.

Next you want to slice your vanilla bean in half and make sure you get to the seeds. Now, put all the vanilla (seeds included), into a large glass container (we use a large mason glass). Then add your coffee grounds.

Now, it’s time for the rum. We highly recommend you use  a strong, overproof rum like Bacardi 151. Pour the rum into the container, mix it all well, cover and then leave for 24 hours in your kitchen.

After 24 hours, add your cinnamon stick and any other ingredients you have to enhance the flavor. Things like orange peels or ground cocoa nibs work well. Again, stir well, cover and then leave for another 24 hours.

Now that your liqueur has had plenty of time to brew, you want to carefully strain all the solids out of your liqueur. Using a couple of coffee filters works pretty well for this and you want to be sure to only have liquid left.

Finally it’s time to add the sweetener. We use a keto simple syrup which is really easy to make and you can find the recipe here. The syrup is really added to taste, so feel free to experiment with adding more or less syrup depending on how sweet you like your liqueur.

Once the syrup is well combined, your liqueur is ready! Now, you can enjoy an espresso martini or you can try making our keto white russian too.

Why use overproof rum?

While you can use any rum you like, a strong, overproof rum is what we’ve found to bring out the flavors of your ingredients like the vanilla and stops the liqueur from becoming too syrupy. It lends a wonderful finish to the drink and allows it retain a sophisticated taste akin to real Kahlua rather than an artificial imitation.

Why use a dark roast coffee?

The darker roast is going to bring that classic depth to your liqueur that you’d expect. Lighter roasts just don’t seem to work as well and leaves your liqueur feeling a bit unsatisfying.