Flaming Coffee

March 15, 2010 2:30 PM

Where can I find flaming coffee in the Southwest or West Coast?

I'm looking for places that serve "flaming coffee," which is some combination of coffee and alcohol set alight. No doubt there are places that would put one together if I asked real nice, but I'm looking for places where it's a specialty or on the drink menu.

The establishment in question must be on the West Coast or the Southwest of the US. Bonus points if they make a big production out of preparing and serving it, pouring it back and forth in a flaming stream or something of the sort.

It must specifically be flaming coffee, not some other flaming drink. Thankee.

posted by lore to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

I think you might be looking for Spanish Coffee.
posted by mullingitover at 2:34 PM on March 15, 2010

Spanish Coffee is a signature drink at Huber's in Portland. Also, the turkey sandwiches are very nice.
posted by cairnish at 2:43 PM on March 15, 2010

Best answer: Viva Madrid in Claremont, CA is not only serves delicious tapas and paellas, they will also serve Spanish Coffee in a great big wine glass, topped with whipped cream. It is quite the production, and ends up very spicy and liquory and sweet.

Is it on the menu? I don't know - I was generally too drunk to order off menu at this point in the night. But it is definitely a well-known specialty.
posted by muddgirl at 3:16 PM on March 15, 2010

I think you are probably thinking of Cafe Diablo. There's a recipe (well, a method and recipe) here. Apparently the Maitre'D restaurant in La Jolla, CA makes it but I have never been there (the restaurant or La Jolla for that matter).
posted by mu at 3:21 PM on March 15, 2010

Response by poster: I'm open to any drink involving coffee and fire, but the actual drink I'm thinking of is apparently associated with New Orleans, and involves cinnamon which creates little flaming sparkles.
posted by lore at 3:36 PM on March 15, 2010

"Spanish Coffee", at Viva Madrid, involved cinnamon.
posted by muddgirl at 3:44 PM on March 15, 2010

In that case you definitely want Spanish Coffee, the flaming cinnamon is the best part of the show. Any competent bartender will know how to prepare this, but I'd go with a place that has a reputation for making it since they'll put on a better production.
posted by mullingitover at 3:45 PM on March 15, 2010

The drink you are looking for might be Café Brûlot - not sure if you knew that, but it might help with Google searches. A quick google led me to a restaurant in Florida and one in Washington DC, but none in your area...though I didn't look very hard.
posted by beyond_pink at 7:15 PM on March 15, 2010

Ohh, that probably is what lore is looking for, beyond_pink - looking at some of the different recipes for a Café Brûlot, they can involve anything from a really simple preparation that ignites the whole bowl, to a multi-step process that lights the lemon peel and the cinnamon.
posted by muddgirl at 7:32 AM on March 16, 2010

Response by poster: Followup: Went to Viva Madrid. The Spanish coffee was great, and yes they did the sparkling cinnamon trick. Thanks, all!
posted by lore at 12:26 AM on April 18, 2010