Carajillo
A Carajillo is 45ml of Licor 43 poured over ice, with 45ml of freshly made hot espresso floated on top, in a chilled old-fashioned glass with three coffee beans. Difford’s Guide gives 1.4 UK units and about 14% ABV in the glass. This is the Puesto serve, which means layered, as served in Mexico. Difford’s Guide lists the shaken serve as a separate recipe. It is a two-ingredient drink, so the espresso decides how it tastes. It contains caffeine.
Glassware: Rocks Glass
Garnish: Three coffee beans set on the surface of the espresso
Ingredients
45ml
A Spanish liqueur made in Cartagena, 31% ABV per the maker. Difford’s names it as the preferred liqueur for this drink.
45ml
Difford’s asks for freshly made hot espresso, and prints Exprè Caffè Italiano as an alternative. Make it just before you pour.
Instructions
Chill an old-fashioned glass and make the espresso so that it is fresh when you pour.
Fill the glass with ice and pour in the Licor 43.
Float the hot espresso over the liqueur, pouring it slowly over the back of a bar spoon.
Set three coffee beans on the surface.
Source: Difford's Guide (recipe 4848 (Carajillo, Puesto), measures, method and garnish as printed (45ml Licor 43 Original, 45ml freshly made hot espresso, poured over ice and floated, pre-chilled old-fashioned glass, 3 coffee beans); history read for the origin; 1.4 units as printed). Last checked 1 November 2026.
Expert Tip
Pour the espresso as soon as it is made. Coffee that has sat and cooled gives a flat, sour drink. Pour over the back of a spoon held just above the liqueur. A fast pour breaks the layers and you lose the bitter-then-sweet effect. Choose the espresso with care. It is half the drink.
Behind the Carajillo
Flavour Profile
A Spanish coffee drink that Mexico made its own
Difford’s Guide lists the Carajillo as a Spanish cocktail. It says the drink is thought to have been made first by Spanish troops in Cuba, when Cuba was a Spanish province, who mixed coffee with rum to give themselves courage. The name comes from the Spanish word for courage, coraje, in its small form.
In Spain the drink varies by region. Difford’s describes versions that run from brandy poured into an espresso to brandy warmed with lemon, sugar and cinnamon before the coffee goes in. In Cuba, it says, coffee is mixed with rum.
Difford’s says the drink has grown fast in Mexico since about 2015, where it is served shaken (shakeado) or layered (puesto), and that Licor 43 promotion helped drive it. Difford’s added this recipe in 2019. The recipe below is the layered one.
Why Licor 43 and espresso work together
Difford’s names Licor 43 as the preferred liqueur because its spiced, vanilla-rich character suits coffee. It is a sweet liqueur, and the bitterness of the espresso is what stops the glass tasting syrupy.
Difford’s adds that the espresso you choose changes how well it balances the sweetness. A dark, bitter shot cuts through the liqueur. A mild, sweet one makes the drink softer.
Built, never stirred
The liqueur goes into the glass over ice first. The hot espresso is floated on top slowly, so that it sits above the liqueur before it mixes. Drink it as the layers meet, or stir if you prefer it blended.
The Carajillo beside three coffee drinks
Carajillo (Puesto)
- Spirit
- 45ml Licor 43
- Coffee
- 45ml hot espresso
- Method
- Built and floated
- Served
- Over ice
Espresso Martini
- Spirit
- Vodka and coffee liqueur
- Coffee
- Espresso
- Method
- Shaken
- Served
- Up
Black Russian
- Spirit
- Vodka and coffee liqueur
- Coffee
- None
- Method
- Built
- Served
- Over ice
Irish Coffee
- Spirit
- Irish whiskey
- Coffee
- Hot filter coffee
- Method
- Built
- Served
- Hot, with cream
| Drink | Spirit | Coffee | Method | Served |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carajillo (Puesto) | 45ml Licor 43 | 45ml hot espresso | Built and floated | Over ice |
| Espresso Martini | Vodka and coffee liqueur | Espresso | Shaken | Up |
| Black Russian | Vodka and coffee liqueur | None | Built | Over ice |
| Irish Coffee | Irish whiskey | Hot filter coffee | Built | Hot, with cream |
If you want a longer coffee drink, the Espresso Martini and the Black Russian are the nearest neighbours.
Make it at home
The Spirit
CoffeeCoffee goes into drinks as a fresh espresso, valued for its crema, or as a longer brew: filter, phin-dripped robusta or cold brew. The brew decides what it brings: hot espresso gives foam and bitterness, filter gives length and heat, and cold brew gives flavour with no crema. It carries caffeine: by the NHS figure a cup of instant coffee holds 100mg, and filter coffee can hold more.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Carajillo?
Where does the Carajillo come from?
How strong is a Carajillo?
What does Puesto mean?
Does a Carajillo contain caffeine?
Is the Carajillo made with rum?
Not in this recipe. Difford’s Guide records rum in the history of the drink, in the Spanish troops’ original mix and in the Cuban version, and prints this modern serve with Licor 43 and espresso only.
What glass do I use?
Can I make a Carajillo in a batch?
Sources.
Correct as of 1 November 2026.
- Difford’s Guide, “Carajillo (Puesto)” (recipe 4848: 45ml Licor 43, 45ml hot espresso, built over ice, old-fashioned glass, 3 coffee beans; 1.4 units; history: Spanish troops in Cuba, coffee with rum, Spain and Latin America, Mexico since about 2015, recipe added 2019).
- NHS, “Calculating alcohol units” (the 14-units-a-week guidance and the units calculation).
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Espresso Martini
An Espresso Martini is 50ml of vodka, 30ml of Kahlúa, 10ml of sugar syrup and one freshly pulled espresso of about 30ml, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled martini glass, with three coffee beans laid on the foam. About 2.5 UK units, and the caffeine of a single shot. The Oxford Companion says Dick Bradsell created it at the Soho Brasserie in London in 1983, for a famous model who asked for a drink to wake her up and then mess her up; he never said who she was. The measures are the IBA’s. Vodka gives strength and cold without flavour, so the coffee leads. The foam comes from the crema of a shot pulled moments before the shake, which is why the espresso goes in last.
Black Russian
A Black Russian takes 50ml of vodka and 20ml of coffee liqueur, stirred in a rocks glass over a single large cube for 15 to 20 seconds and served without a garnish. The measures are the IBA’s. About 2.4 UK units. Difford’s Guide says Gustave Tops, a bartender at the Metropolitan Hotel in Brussels, created it in 1949 for Perle Mesta, then United States ambassador to Luxembourg. Barry Popik finds no contemporary documentation for that story and traces the drink in print to 1956. Its name joins the vodka to the dark colour of the coffee liqueur. At five parts vodka to two of liqueur, the coffee seasons the drink rather than sweetening it. Float cream on top and it becomes a White Russian.
White Russian
A White Russian is 50ml vodka and 25ml coffee liqueur stirred over one large cube in a rocks glass for 15 to 20 seconds, then 30ml of fresh single cream poured gently onto the surface from a spoon. Nothing else garnishes it: the cream marbling down through the dark liquid is the finish. About 2.5 UK units. It is the Black Russian with cream. The IBA lists it only as a note to that drink, which is 50ml vodka and 20ml coffee liqueur: float fresh cream on top and stir it in slowly. Our extra 5ml of liqueur holds the coffee against the cream. The Oxford Companion dates its final form and name to 1965, when Southern Comfort used it to promote its short-lived Coffee Southern. The Oxford Companion says that in the Coen Brothers’ cult film The Big Lebowski the White Russian is the Dude’s main source of sustenance, and that it has become something of a cult drink.
Irish Coffee
An Irish Coffee is 50ml of Irish whiskey and a teaspoon of demerara sugar stirred into 120ml of hot filter coffee in a warmed glass, with 50ml of cream whipped to the texture of cold pouring custard and floated on top over the back of a warm spoon. Nothing goes on the cream, ever. About 2.0 UK units. The Foynes Flying Boat Museum dates it to the winter of 1943 at the Foynes flying-boat terminal, when the chef Joe Sheridan put Irish whiskey into the coffee of passengers whose flight had turned back; the Oxford Companion dates it to late 1944 or early 1945. KQED tells the Buena Vista Cafe’s story that its owner and the travel writer Stanton Delaplane set about copying the drink in San Francisco on 10 November 1952; the Companion gives 1953. It is drunk through the cream: hot, sweet coffee and whiskey under a cold layer, so every sip arrives warm and cool at once. The cream is dairy, so make it for milk drinkers only.
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 2 November 2026