This Leesburg outpost serves both coffee and craft cocktails.
(Photography by Angela Newton Roy)
When Zaara and Ahad Raza moved home to Virginia from Texas, they went searching for the coffee and craft cocktail bars they’d enjoyed in Austin. Coming up empty-handed, the couple decided to open their own. At Goosecup Coffee and Craft Cocktails in Leesburg, the Razas roast their own coffee and have now expanded their food and cocktail offerings. Here, one of Goosecup’s signature recipes, Caught in the Rain, a “clarified” take on the Pina Colada.
What are clarified cocktails? The process involves batching a citrus cocktail with milk and allowing the mixture to curdle, which separates the ingredients, stripping away color, cloudiness, and bite. The technique dates back to the 18th century, when liquors were often harsh-tasting and refrigeration was scarce. Once separated, the drink is fine-strained through a chinois lined with a coffee filter, resulting in a crystal clear, shelf-stable cocktail.
Here’s how they do it at Goosecup:
"Caught in the Rain"
In a large container, combine:
- 10 oz Plantation Pineapple Rum
- 10 oz Smith + Cross Jamaican Rum
- 2.5 oz Arak (a traditional Lebanese spirit consisting
- of grape alcohol and anise)
- 10 oz House Seven Spices Coconut Cream
- 7.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
- 10 oz Fresh Pineapple Juice
Add that mixture to a container with 6 oz of whole milk and allow to sit refrigerated overnight. Strain the mixture through a coffee filter-lined chinois. For clearest results, pass through the filter a second time. Bottle your clarified cocktail and enjoy.
This article originally appeared in the December 2021 issue.
