• YE GUILTY

belle of the haters’ ball. colorado


censa
@censa

As requested by @nex3 here's my cola syrup recipe! This isn't aiming for any particular cola (I'm not emulating coke or pepsi or dr. pepper exactly, just going for similar flavor notes) so don't expect the exact same thing. Warning: I developed this for coffeeshop/bar use so the batch size is really big. The version I use at work is lighter on spices, omitting some entirely because we supplement the spices using bitters and lack certain ingredients. Here I've made the more spiced version I like to keep at home. You can omit, add, and substitute as you like and you'll get something tasty, just different. I've made this like 5 different ways lacking certain spices and adding others, upping and tweaking the citrus ratios, etc.

Uses:

  • with cold brew (or a shot of espresso), bitters, and soda water for less sweet coffee cola
  • or, for a low-abv cocktail, with cold brew (or a shot of espresso), bitters, lime juice, soda water, and amaro (I've tried this with cynar, ramazzotti, averna, and st. agrestis and all work nicely, though averna makes it a little over-sweet for my taste)
  • instead of demerara syrup in cocktails or simple syrup in coffee drinks
  • haven't tried it in savory applications yet but I want to use this in a bbq glaze so bad

Recipe:

  • 1 fresh lemon (peel and juice)
  • 2 fresh limes (peel and juice)
  • 3 fresh oranges (peel and juice)
  • 20 g fresh ginger, diced
  • 20g cassia bark (you can use cinnamon sticks if you have those on hand)
  • 20 g cacao nibs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or one vanilla bean with the stuff scraped out)
  • 2 star anise pods, broken into pieces
  • 5g coriander seed, cracked
  • 5g cardamom pods
  • 5g sarsparilla root (if you have it, but you can omit this)
  • 5g licorice root (if you have it, but you can omit this)
  • 5g allspice berries, cracked
  • 3g cloves
  • 1g black peppercorns, cracked
  • 1/2 a nutmeg seed, diced
  • 2 pinches of salt

675g white sugar
225g demerara or turbinado sugar
700 milliliters water (expect ~250mls to evaporate)

Steps:

  • Put your water in a pot on the stove
  • Measure all your spices. crack and break the cinnamon and seed pods
  • Peel your citrus and express the oils in the water. Add all your spices and citrus peels to water and simmer for about 30 minutes. Strain it and set your steeped liquid aside (in a pitcher that can go in the microwave later)
  • Juice your citrus and set it aside
  • In the now-empty pot, add sugar and stir constantly over heat until melted and golden in color
  • Once sugar is entirely melted, heat the steeped liquid to warm but not hot. One tablespoon at a time, add your steeped liquid to the melted sugar, stirring constantly to incorporate. You are making a caramel then adding water back in to loosen it into a syrup. It's gonna be scary, hissing and bubbling and growing a lot darker when you add water. This is normal. Do this until all steeping liquid is added and your loosened caramel is uniform. Pour into a container and allow to cool to room temperature
  • Once cool, add your citrus juice, then strain into a storage container. Store in the fridge
  • Enjoy!

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