WHY Eloy Pacheco
Loves Mixing with
Luxardo Espresso
x
Words by Katherine Alex Beaven
Photos by Vlad Levine
Eloy Pacheco moved from Mexico to New York City when he was a teenager. After more than a decade-and-a-half in the city’s hospitality scene, working his way through the ranks as a dishwasher to prep person to barback, he finally found his home behind the bar. Currently, Pacheco works as head bartender at a world-class bar in Manhattan’s West Village and as a beverage consultant for a bar across the river in Brooklyn. He has the opportunity to explore a wide range of spirits, experiment with sophisticated flavor profiles, and hone modern cocktail techniques to keep him at the top of his game.
When it came time to create a signature coffee cocktail, Pacheco’s Barista Fizz intentionally veers from the heavy, creamy, dessert-style profile that normally defines them. Instead, he focuses on building a refreshing drink that respects and reflects the inherent complexity and depth of flavor of real coffee. An important detail was to steer clear of the cloying sweetness and artificial flavors found in common coffee liqueurs.
For the Barista Fizz, there was only one liqueur that Pacheco felt he could count on to make it work. He reached for Luxardo Espresso Liqueur, a traditional Italian liqueur made from a 30-day infusion of a select variety of the finest coffee beans, mostly Arabica, sourced from Kenya, Brazil, and Colombia.
“Working with Luxardo Espresso Liqueur, you notice right away that it’s drier and intensely authentic,” Pacheco says.
It’s notably less sweet, more flexible, and full of the earthy, high-roast, raw cocoa, and berry notes in real Italian espresso. In other words, ideal for mixing the perfect coffee cocktail.
“It behaves like a true modifier, blending seamlessly with spirits like mezcal or amaro without throwing the drink off balance.”
The Barista Fizz pairs Luxardo Espresso Liqueur with smoky mezcal, Luxardo Bitter Bianco, homemade coffee syrup, and fizzy tonic water to create a crisp and complex highball-style drink.
“It can only truly work with Luxardo because of the liqueur’s unique profile of coffee bean notes with a touch of cocoa and deep sweetness,” he says.
Hover over the ingredients to learn more
Luxardo Espresso Liqueur
Ideal for creating the perfect coffee cocktail, blending seamlessly with spirits like mezcal or amaro without throwing the drink off balance.
Luxardo bitter bianco
Adds a layered bitterness with bright citrus and herbal undertones.
fizzy tonic water
Transforms the heavy coffee body profile into a high-end refreshing and effervescent cocktail.
homemade coffee syrup
Enhances the coffee body and provides just enough residual sugar to bind the bitter and acidic elements together.
mezcal
Imparts an earthy, vegetal smoke that anchors the drink.
Pacheco champions the Barista Fizz because it challenges convention, and lauds Luxardo Espresso Liqueur as the key ingredient. “Most espresso cocktails of past and present, like the classic Espresso Martini or carajillo, rely on weight, dairy, or the sweetness in liqueur,” he says. “This drink stands out by turning the concept upside down. It’s a highball that uses the fizz of tonic water to lift the rich coffee notes and marry the smokiness of mezcal, giving a refreshing mouthfeel instead of heaviness.”
Beyond the Barista Fizz, Pacheco says Luxardo Espresso Liqueur is a great cocktail ingredient to have behind the bar for its balance of dryness, authentic character, and structural integrity. “Quality is everything in a cocktail,” he notes, likening the importance of ingredients to the structural foundation of a building. “Every single ingredient acts as a pillar supporting the final structure. If one pillar fails, the whole build collapses.”
This is particularly important when dealing with coffee-based components, when he says synthetic flavors or poor extraction of the coffee notes stand out immediately as either inauthentic or cloying. The seven generations of heritage and craft under the Luxardo brand are evident in Luxardo Espresso Liqueur, capturing the true essence of coffee beans. For Pacheco, every pour is a testament to Luxardo’s dedication to excellence, consistency, depth, and integrity.
Whether the vibe is night owl or nightcap, Luxardo Espresso Liqueur and Luxardo Decaf Espresso Liqueur are the only coffee liqueurs worth adding to the glass.
This article is sponsored by Luxardo USA.
Luxardo recently released Luxardo Decaffeinated Espresso Liqueur, the world’s first decaf espresso liqueur. This ultra-premium liqueur uses a heated infusion process that extracts essential oils from a specialty blend of roasted coffee beans, delivering full Italian espresso flavor, decaf.
For bartenders like Pacheco, who finds the regular and decaf version of Luxardo Espresso Liqueur work seamlessly and interchangeably in cocktail formulation, the release has opened up a whole category of cocktail possibilities. “This allows bartenders to offer the exact same complex flavor profile to guests looking for a late night, caffeine-free alternative without sacrificing a single drop of taste or texture.”
jump to recipe
The Barista Fizz
Ingredients:
¾ oz Luxardo Espresso
½ oz Luxardo Bitter Bianco
½ oz Mezcal
Directions:
In a chilled highball glass add ice and all ingredients except the tonic water
Top off with 4 ounces of tonic water
Stir briefly to combine all of the ingredients, and if necessary add extra tonic water
Garnish with an orange twist.
¼ oz coffee syrup*
4 oz Tonic Water
Garnish: Orange twist
*Coffee Syrup Recipe
Ingredients:
6 oz water
3 tbsp instant coffee
2 tbsp sugar
1 orange
Directions:
In a small saucepan heat the 6 ounces of water and add 3 peels of oranges
Combine with the sugar and coffee
Stir the mixture constantly until the sugar completely dissolves (about 1 min)
Remove the pan from the heat and let the syrup cool down to room temperature
Pour the syrup into a clean jar or small bottle. (Make sure you date it).