Drink · 4 min · Amounts not specified
Carajillo
Spanish coffee-and-spirit. Shake with ice if you want it cold and foamy.
The sheet · 1 small glass · 4 min
easyWhy tonight. Spanish coffee-and-spirit. Shake with ice if you want it cold and foamy.
What it needs
Nothing confirmed on your shelf yet — this list is the whole ask.
- cognac
- coffee
Good if you have them, fine if you do not: sugar, orange.
Method
- 1½ oz Licor 43 or brandy, and a shot of espresso pulled fresh.
- Shake with ice, hard and briefly, and strain over one large cube.
- The foam comes from the crema and the shake. If the coffee is not freshly pulled there will be no foam and it will look like what it is.
- Served after dinner in Spain and Mexico, and it is a considerably better idea than a third glass of wine.
Technique coach
What the method is trying to make happen
Sequence, correction, heat and texture, equipment workarounds, scaling, and component reuse are available with this cook sheet.
An educational pour, not a reprint of a licensed spec. No allergen or alcohol-safety claim.
Cook or pour it, then edit the shelf if you emptied a bottle or used the last of something.
The technique underneath this
Going wrong while you cook it? Say what it is doing and the triage will tell you what is happening, the smallest move, and the instinct to resist.
Watch the technique behind this one
Third-party video. Opens in a new tab — nothing is embedded and nothing is fetched from a video platform until you click.
Reviewed video matched to this method, not to the cuisine. Opens in a new tab.
- Produce prepCitrus SupremeEpicuriousCutting the pith and membrane away so the segments come out clean — the prep behind every citrus salad.Link checked 2026-09-08
- Sugar and custardSalted Caramel Sauce Recipe – The Perfect Ice Cream Topping | Food WishesFood WishesA dry caramel judged by color, which is the only reliable instrument most kitchens have.Link checked 2026-09-08
Why each of these is on the list
What the ingredients are actually doing
- cognac
- Grape spirit with fruit and oak, which makes it rounder and less spiky than whiskey in the same drink.
- coffee
- Bitterness and roast, which is why it turns up in savory rubs as often as in dessert.
Missing one of them? The substitutions are written against those jobs rather than against a chart, so they say what each replacement costs this dish in particular.
Cooks from the same box
If you bought for this, you can already make these
Shares coffee
Amaro coffee
Amaro and coffee, hot or over ice. The bitterness of both stacks rather than clashing, and it is what to serve instead of dessert.
Shares cognac
Cognac soda
Cognac and soda with a lemon peel, which is how it is drunk in France and almost nowhere else.
Shares cognac
French Connection
Two ingredients, rocks. Almond sweetness against grape brandy.
Shares cognac
Stinger
Cognac and crème de menthe, stirred and served very cold. Two ingredients, and it was the drink of choice for most of the last century.
Next
Cook it, then tell the shelf what you used.
The ranking is only as honest as the shelf behind it. Empty the cream, and everything that leaned on cream should stop being offered.