For any coffee lover, a trip to New Orleans wouldn’t be complete without the experience of Café Brûlot. So we headed off to where this delicious drink was made famous – to  the oldest family-run restaurant in the USA.

In 1840, 18-year-old Frenchman, Antoine Alciatore arrived in New Orleans and opened a restaurant he called Antoine’s. Immensely popular from the start with early French aristocrats of New Orleans, by 1868 it was moved a block up the street to larger premises – at 713 St Louis Street where it stands today, right in the heart of the historic French Quarter.

Antoine’s has continued to be run by 5 generations of the Alciatore family, refining the art of blending local Creole and classic French cuisines. Antoine’s son Jules took over from his parents, and it’s said he was ‘a genius in the kitchen’, inventing dishes such as Oysters Rockefeller. Another was Café Brûlot.

Collage of five images, including our meals at Antpines Restaurant in New Orleans, another of the inside of the restaurant with white tablecloths and one of the sign outside.

Following our meal, we were treated to the full theatrical experience that goes with Café Brûlot. The ingredients and brûlot-making apparatus were laid out before us on the table – and a fire extinguisher on the floor!

Two waiters were involved in a flamboyant demonstration of first combining brandy with orange and lemon peel, sugar and spices. The whole concoction was then flamed to a great height as a clove studded orange peel was lifted above the bowl and the flaming mixture poured over it several times to extract the aromas and flavours.  Coffee was then slowly added to the brandy mixture causing the flames to subside.

It was served in tall ceramic cups – with enough left to share with more than a few friends.  Needless to say, having drunk most of it, we were buzzing from the effects of alcohol and caffeine that evening. Fortunately, The French Quarter is alive with activity into the early hours of the morning.

Collage of 5 images demonstrating-of-Cafe-Brulot-at-Antoines-Restaurant-in-New-Orleans

If you’d like to attempt the experience yourself, you can achieve a similar result, without the special brûlot apparatus. Though less theatrical, you can use a saucepan instead.

Ingredients

  • a couple of cinnamon sticks
  • several cloves studded into a large orange peel
  • a small strip of lemon peel
  • a small glass of brandy
  • half a glass of orange liqueur such as curacao
  • sugar to taste
  • a few cups of strong black coffee.

Method

  • Mix everything (except the coffee) with the brandy.
  • Flame the brandy mixture.
  • Pour the coffee slowly into the flaming mixture.
  • Serve in tall ceramic cups, using a large long-handled ladle.

And don’t forget the fire extinguisher (just in case)!

In 2016, we were in Atlanta for the 2016 SCAA Event, and spent a week in New Orleans afterwards.  See our blog on Coffee in New Orleans where we share the rest of our food and coffee experiences in this vibrant city on the banks of the mighty Mississippi.