We’ve been pretty busy in the Tequila Aficionado Test Kitchen over the past year. Because we aren’t afraid to splash a little tequila into our food, we’ve got a great collection of recipes you might want to try as gifts for tequila loving friends & family or perhaps you’d like to wow everyone at the annual office party or a holiday potluck.
Whatever your reason for celebrating with tequila and food, you’ll want to try these!
Festive Holiday recipes
Click on any of the titles below to see the full recipes:
The packaging was promising. The bottle is a deep, earthy brown-black like those cups of coffee I enjoy every morning. The lettering was white with gold trim, just enough bling to show they’d taken some pride in this product.
The Open
Alex’s Inspector Clouseau voice kept coming to mind as I broke the seal. I removed it carefully with that “child at Christmas” sort of anticipation where you don’t dare ask yourself “Will it be what I’ve always wanted?”
You see, my tagline for decades has been, “In my world, coffee and tequila are food groups.” (In fact, you may just see that meme floating around cyberspace thanks to Mike Morales.)
I’ve been all over the world and tasted every coffee there is. I know the difference between Robusto and Arabica beans and I’ll be happy to go on at length about how important the grind of a coffee is. I’ll also slap anyone who dares to present me with a cup of coffee that was blended with chicory. I don’t drink that frou-frou double-moo-cow-chunk-chunk stuff, either. Don’t make me go off like Denis Leary about that.
So, you see, I take my coffee very seriously.
The Nose
A spellbinding effect began when I opened the bottle. The first whiff delivered deep, rich, earthy espresso. Not coffee–E S P R E S S O. I’m talking about perfectly roasted beans ground into a fine powder and forced by hot steam to give up their deepest essence.
Though the bottle arrived attended by eight lovely shot glasses emblazoned with the Avion logo, I poured this into a champagne flute to let it breathe. (The anticipation nearly had me doing the Guinness dance.)
Finally, I could wait no more.
I swirled it in the crystal glass and it’s dark legs made me giddy.
I smelled it to my right, then to my left, and then head on.
The tequila and the espresso were equally matched. No one overpowered the other. They both stood strong and full together, but there was something more. There was just a hint of honey on the nose and the combination of the three was delightfully intriguing. Just smelling it made my mouth water.
It was like Christmas! “Do I drink…do I wait…?”
The nose was phenomenal and I didn’t want to break that spell if the flavor didn’t deliver on the promise.
Love at First Taste
I finally closed my eyes and took a sip.
The quality of the ingredients and the mix of flavors was exquisite. It tickled my lips and sparkled on my tongue. Yes, sparkled. The Italian espresso was there in full force but the Avion Silver tequila was not letting it steal the show.
The things it did in my mouth!
I’ve had other coffee flavored liqueurs. I had high hopes for Patron’s XO Café but it was nasty straight and completely ruined my coffee when mixed. Avion Espresso has taken coffee liqueur from Maxwell House instant straight to the cafés of Europe holding hands with the blue agave fields of Jalisco.
Avion Espresso is THE liqueur for coffee lovers and a spectacular treasure for those of us who love both coffee and tequila.
The Finish
Ken Austin, Founder and Chairman, commented on Avion’s addition of a liqueur to its line.
“At first I didn’t want to do it as a tequila purist. After many months of work at the distillery I was very happy with the results and we released it. It is doing so well along with our 100% Agave products and I can’t thank enough the many people who are supporting our brand and company!”
This attention to detail and high standard of quality is what makes Avion Espresso the new bar for any brand considering making a coffee liqueur. Honestly, I can’t imagine how it could possibly be done better.
Avion Espresso is for those who are passionate about coffee. This isn’t coffee “flavor”. This is scintillating silver tequila and dark, rich, espresso. This is the perfect mix of the night before and the morning after, the nightcap you drink as you watch the sunrise together. This is early morning sex before sleeping all day!
We’ve been pretty busy in the Tequila Aficionado Test Kitchen over the past year. Because we aren’t afraid to splash a little tequila into our food, we’ve got a great collection of recipes you might want to try as gifts for tequila loving friends & family or perhaps you’d like to wow everyone at the annual office party or a holiday potluck.
Click on any of the titles below to see the full recipes:
– Diva Tequila Cupcakes
