Alpine Cream Coffee Liqueur

Crema Alpina Caffè, espresso meets alpine cream

Marzadro's Crema Alpina Caffè is a cream-based coffee liqueur: intense coffee aroma on cream made from fresh milk from the Trentino region. Mild and velvety, pleasantly light at 17% vol. Available here in a 700 ml bottle.

Crema Alpina Caffè is the coffee liqueur from Distilleria Marzadro – the variety in their cream liqueur range that brings Italy into your glass most directly. An intense coffee aroma rests on a base of cream from fresh Trentino milk, and at 17% vol., the liqueur remains mild enough for the coffee to take center stage.

In the glass, Crema Alpina al Caffè shows a deep brown color; on the palate, it is velvety, refined, and mild, while the coffee aroma remains strong and clear. Two Italian staples, united in one bottle.

Why coffee and cream belong together

What happens in every Italian bar – espresso meets milk – happens here in the bottle, only with cream instead of milk and a dash of alcohol.

Coffee is bitter, cream is fatty and sweet: one keeps the other in check. That is why the cappuccino works, and that is why this liqueur works. The cream from the alpine valleys brings more to the table than just creaminess – it carries the roasted aroma and rounds it off without stifling it.

Marzadro's cream liqueurs are the typical expression of the alpine valleys, as the family themselves calls it. In the case of the Caffè, this expression meets the most Italian of all drinks – mountain and bar in one glass.

The fact that a grappa distillery of all things produces a coffee liqueur is less absurd than it sounds: the Caffè corretto, an espresso "corrected" with a dash of grappa, is as much a part of the day in Trentino as a coffee break is elsewhere. Here, the order is simply reversed.

The liqueur for after your espresso

After the meal, when the espresso has been drunk, comes this liqueur – or it goes straight into it.

Poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it makes an effortless affogato. In a cocktail, it replaces coffee liqueur and cream in one go – a White Russian becomes significantly rounder with it. And for those who drink it neat, it should be well chilled: cold, the coffee tastes clearer; warm, it quickly becomes heavy. The Liquore Corretto in the Le Mignon tasting set shows what the same coffee concept sounds like on a grappa basis, where roasted beans mature in Diciotto Lune.

The range and its eight voices

All Crema Alpina liqueurs share the same cream base and the same 17% vol. – what distinguishes them is the aroma on top.

In addition to coffee, there is Pistacchio with pistachio, Nocciola with hazelnut, Lemon, Strawberry with wild strawberries, Melon, Marzipan, and Salted Caramel. Caffè is the only one that does not start sweet, but bitter – and that is exactly what makes it the entry point for many. You can find all eight in the Crema Alpina Liqueurs collection.

Production takes place in Nogaredo in the Adige Valley, not far from Lake Garda, where Sabina Marzadro began distilling in 1949. Today, Andrea, Anna, and Stefano Marzadro run the house as a family business – those vacationing at the lake can visit the distillery.

For the moment when everything has already been said

Its temperature should be between 8 and 10 degrees, well chilled – unlike the grappa from the same house, cream liqueurs belong in the refrigerator. Once opened, it will keep there for several weeks. Over ice, in coffee, or neat: it is the liqueur for the moment when everything has actually already been said and yet no one gets up.