If you’re into crazy taste combinations like peanut butter&jelly or pineapple pizza, you’re probably going to love this wine-infused coffee that combines the taste and health benefits of two of the world’s most popular drinks.
Molinari Private Reserve artisan coffee is the brainchild of Rick Molinari, the owner of Molinari Caffè in Napa Valley, California. He claims to have come up with the idea for a wine-infused coffee in 2013, after talking with his friend and fellow coffee roaster, John Weaver, of Wild Card Roasters LLC. Born and raised among the vineyards of Napa Valley, Molinari was convinced that bringing together “the best of both worlds” in one unique drink was bound to be a success, so he started researching ways of making it happen.
Molinari came up with a working formula within a year, and in 2014 he actually started selling his unique blend of roasted coffee and red wine, but a magnitude-6.0 earthquake that shook Northern California that year forced him to put the process of perfecting his idea on hold. He never gave up on it, though, and after teaming up with several vineyeards around Napa Valley, the cafe owner recently launched an improved version of his wine-infused coffee, and is already struggling to keep up with demand.
To create his intriguing wine-infused coffee, the Californian entrepreneur hand-selects and imports coffee beans from south of the equator, roasts them and then rehydrates them to a certain percentage in a unique blend of red wine created by notable Napa Valley wineries. The beans are then dried and hand-roasted again.
According to how you decide to prepare it, the coffee&wine combination of Molinari Private Reserve artisan coffee can take on different flavors. The company website claims that adding more milk to your coffee brings out the taste of wine more, while using a French press to prepare it brings out a delicious blueberry flavor. You can also use the coffee to make lattes, espresso shots or cold brews, for different flavor variations.
Apart from the unique flavor combination, there’s apparently an added health benefit to drinking wine-infused coffee, as it offers a double boost of antioxidants. Whether that played a part in the success of the coffee is hard to say, but one thing is for sure, Molinari is having a hard time keeping up with demand.
“I knew that this would get big, but I didn’t think it would get to this point,” Rick Molinari told FOX News. He has already exhausted the supply of wine-infused coffee and is now waiting on a new batch. The product is out of stock in the Molinari Private Reserve website, but if you keep an eye on it, you might be able to snatch a half-a-pound bag for $19.95 before it runs out again.
If you’re excited by the idea of being able to literally get drunk on coffee, I’m sorry to break it to you, but wine-infused coffee, has an alcohol content of only .005 percent. The good new is that the combination of caffeine and sugar from the wine can make you feel a bit tipsy after drinking it. “You might think you’re tipsy, but it’s the combination of the sugar and the caffeine,” Molinari said.
