Seifuku Coffee Liqueur: Coffee Built on an Ishigaki Base

We already pour Seifuku's awamori, the undiluted, unpasteurized one from Ishigaki. This is the same distillery in a very different mood.

Seifuku

Seifuku began as Kanna Sakaya, brewing from 1942 on Ishigaki, introduced printed bottles for awamori in 1975, and became Seifuku Shuzo in 1992.

Ishigaki is the far southwestern end of Japan, closer to Taiwan than to Tokyo. Seifuku is one of the island's major producers, and while awamori is the core business, they make a broad range of liqueurs alongside it.

Why the Base Matters

Most coffee liqueur is built on neutral spirit and sugar. The coffee has to do all the work, and the base is there purely to carry alcohol.

Seifuku's is built on their own rice base, which changes the arithmetic. Awamori is distilled from long-grain Thai rice using black koji, and even at liqueur strength that origin leaves something behind: a faint rice sweetness and a soft, slightly savory foundation that neutral spirit does not have.

Coffee is an unusually good match for that. Roasted coffee is bitter and aromatic but it is also fundamentally a savory flavor, closer to toasted grain and cocoa than to fruit. Putting it on a rice base rather than a neutral one gives the two things to talk about.

What It Tastes Like

Rich, aromatic coffee over a delicate rice sweetness, finishing smooth and sweet without the syrupy weight that a lot of coffee liqueurs carry.

The roast character reads clean rather than burnt, and the finish is shorter and lighter than the big commercial coffee liqueurs, which is a point in its favor if you find those heavy.

How to Drink It

Chilled, in a rocks glass, neat or over a single large cube.

Over ice with a splash of soda also works and lightens it considerably.

Traditionally this is an after-dinner drink and that is where it belongs. Coffee liqueur before a meal is a strange proposition.

Pair It With

Dessert, straightforwardly. Matcha tiramisu, anything with chocolate, or on its own at the end of a long night.

Try It at Juraku

Seifuku Coffee Liqueur is on the list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side, alongside the Seifuku awamori. Check the current menu or ask us what is open.