Quetzalcoatl’s Cup

60ml blanco tequila (Olmeca Altos)



20ml chocolate liqueur (Mozart Dark)

10ml Campari

10 drops chilli tincture (Indigo Herbs)

2 dashes orange bitters (Angostura)

Stir all ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a flamed cinnamon stick.

With my birthday being this month and Min and I going on holiday, I’ve added a few extra bottles to my collection. Featuring in this is a gift from my mother, a bottle of Mozart Dark Chocolate Liqueur. Easy choice I suppose, considering my hobby and the fact I love dark chocolate.

I wanted something more interesting to do with it besides the obvious mixing with a brown spirit like whisky or rum, and settled on an Mexican/Aztec theme - chocolate, chilli and tequila. The Mayans were using chocolate to make beverages long before it was sold as a sweetened solid treat; mixing it with herbs and chillies. The Aztecs, I was amused to discover, believed chocolate was a gift from Quetzalcoatl - their creation deity - himself. I can believe it.

This is the recipe I’ve settled on for now. The first attempt, with an extra 2.5ml of Mozart and twice as many drops of chilli tincture (which is a little less than 1ml it turns out) and it was too chocolatey and too hot. This is about right: the tequila sits at the back, it’s salty freshness still present, while the dominant flavour is the chocolate. There’s a faint herbal element from the Campari and a kick from the chilli. The cinnamon stick (flamed with my new blowtorch, £12.99 from Lidl) adds the aromatics.

A sweet cocktail, but not too sweet. We’re going out tonight, which is a shame - I fancy another one.

Original recipe; © Benjamin Talbot (2017).