Tia Maria Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur

Tia Maria was created in Jamaica in the 1940s, built on local coffee, rum and vanilla. The cold brew edition steeps Arabica slowly at low temperature, drawing a smoother, less acidic coffee than hot extraction, and bottles it drier than most coffee liqueurs at 20%.

Intense and roasted on the nose, it runs deep with cocoa, tobacco and green coffee over a restrained sweetness. That lower sugar is its selling point behind the bar: in an Espresso Martini it brings coffee body and roast without tipping the drink into syrup, which is why many bartenders reach for it there. It also makes a leaner Black Russian, lifts a stout or an Old Fashioned riff, and pours cleanly over ice.