Rüdesheimer Kaffee

Rüdesheimer Kaffee is a coffee with a show attached. In a special cup, Asbach Uralt brandy is poured over sugar cubes and set alight, stirred until the sugar melts, then topped with hot coffee, a thick cap of whipped cream sweetened with vanilla sugar, and chocolate flakes. It comes from Rüdesheim am Rhein, the wine town on the Rhine where Asbach brandy is made, and it was invented in 1957 by television chef Hans Karl Adam. Here’s how to make it at home, safely.

The short version

• Asbach brandy flambéed with sugar, then coffee, cream and chocolate.
• From Rüdesheim am Rhein, home of Asbach brandy.
• Invented in 1957 by TV chef Hans Karl Adam.
• Served in a special cup, with a long match.
• Cognac or armagnac work if you can’t find Asbach, Wikipedia says.

What’s in Rüdesheimer Kaffee?

Wikipedia gives the recipe:

Ingredient	Amount
Hot, black coffee	125 ml
Sugar cubes	3
Asbach Uralt brandy, or cognac or armagnac	4 cl (40 ml)
Whipped cream, sweetened with vanilla sugar	A thick topping
Dark chocolate flakes	To garnish

German Girl in America’s version uses the same three sugar cubes and about 40 ml (1⅓ oz) of Asbach.

How do you make it?

1. Put three sugar cubes in a heatproof cup.
2. Warm the brandy a little, German Girl in America suggests, in the microwave or in a glass stood in hot water, then pour it over the sugar.
3. Light it with a long match and stir, breaking up the sugar, for about a minute until it dissolves, as Wikipedia describes.
4. Pour in hot, strong coffee, to about half an inch from the rim.
5. Top with thick, vanilla-sweetened whipped cream and scatter over chocolate flakes.

Take great care with flaming alcohol: use a heatproof cup, a long match, keep it away from anything flammable, and never pour more brandy onto a flame. Contains alcohol: for adults only.

Where does it come from?

Rüdesheim am Rhein. The town is the home of Asbach, which German Girl in America calls arguably Germany’s best-known brandy. Hugo Asbach learned distilling in France and founded his distillery in Rüdesheim in 1892; it made sense, she explains, because brandy is distilled from wine, and the Rhine was full of it. After the First World War, when “cognac” became reserved for French brandy, Asbach renamed his product Weinbrand, which became the official German term in 1923.

In 1957, television chef Hans Karl Adam created Rüdesheimer Kaffee, Wikipedia says, and it became a popular coffee-house drink. German Girl in America puts it in context: coffee, spirits and whipped cream had already been combined in drinks like the Pharisäer, and Irish coffee was fashionable in the 1950s; Adam’s twist was local brandy, and setting it on fire, in a table-side ceremony with a special cup.

Rüdesheimer Kaffee vs other coffee cocktails

• Pharisäer: North Frisia’s coffee with rum under whipped cream.
• Irish coffee: coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar under floating cream.
• Einspänner: Vienna’s black coffee under whipped cream, no alcohol.
• Carajillo: espresso with brandy, rum or Licor 43.

Explore every drink in the coffee cocktails chapter.