Forty-Four (Quarante-Quatre)

Time now to make Forty-Four for the holidays. Forty-four is a wonderful liqueur with a strong orange flavor, but with some complexity from the coffee beans. We usually serve it on its own at room temperature, but it can be served ice cold in the summer and might be a nice addition to Sangria (but you might want to cut down on the sugar if that's your main goal).

All you need is 1 large organic orange, 44 coffee beans, 44 sugar cubes, and one litre of vodka (cheap is fine).

For equipment, you need a knife and a jar with a big enough opening for the orange to fit through.

Make 44 slices into the orange with the point of the knife and put a coffee bean in each one -- making sure you get through the skin, into the flesh of the orange.

Place the orange and the sugar cubes in the jar and pour the vodka over it. Shake it gently each day for 44 days, then filter using coffee filter paper and bottle it.



Should be ready to drink on Dec 2.

A couple of notes: a lot depends on the orange, so try to get one with lots of flavor, preferably on the tart side. Organic, because you are going to be drinking something it has sat in for 6 weeks, so you don't want scarey chemicals leaching out. Blood Oranges give it a lovely color, but it turns a pretty pale gold even with a regular orange.