Café Brûlot — Antoine's Flaming Coffee

Café Brûlot is an after-dinner spectacle invented at Antoine’s around 1890: brandy, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon, and sugar are set ablaze in a silver bowl, then ladled over strong coffee. The blue flame is extinguished by the coffee itself. The drink was reportedly created to mask the smell of alcohol during Prohibition, though Antoine’s was serving it decades before the Volstead Act. The preparation is performed table-side in a darkened dining room, and the best version is still the one at Antoine’s, served in the original brûlot cups.

Quick facts

·Invented at Antoine's around 1890: brandy, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon, and sugar set ablaze, then ladled over strong coffee.
·Legend claims it was created to mask the smell of alcohol, though Antoine's served it well before Prohibition.
·The preparation is performed table-side in a darkened dining room — the blue flame is extinguished by the coffee.
·Antoine's serves it in the original brûlot cups, which are small, handled, and designed for the ritual.
·Antoine's, opened in 1840, is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the United States.