46% ABV
Aged-Rum
Venezuela
Coffee Meets Rum at the HaciendaÂ
In the mountains of Venezuela, Hacienda Santa Teresa has been growing coffee and sugar cane since 1796. The estate sits at an elevation where cool nights and warm days create ideal conditions for growing Arabica coffee beans alongside the sugar cane that becomes their rum. After more than two centuries of producing both crops on the same land, they decided to bring them together in a bottle.
The Coffee Cask Finish is the second release in Santa Teresa’s Cask Finish Series. What makes it different isn’t just the coffee influence – it’s how that influence is achieved. Rather than aging rum in barrels that previously held coffee, Santa Teresa developed a more involved process.
The Arabica coffee beans are roasted to a medium level and ground coarsely. These grounds are then used to create a cold brew, but instead of using water, they use four-year-old rum. This rum-based cold brew mixture is placed in American white oak barrels where it rests for six months, allowing the wood to absorb the coffee flavors while the rum extracts additional compounds from the oak.
After six months, the coffee-seasoned barrels are emptied and refilled, this time with Santa Teresa 1796 – its flagship rum. The spirit is finished in the barrels for three more months. The result is a rum that carries coffee notes without letting them overpower the spirit.
The coffee complements the rum’s character by adding layers of complexity that feel integrated rather than forced. The volcanic soil and mountain climate that benefit the coffee plants also contribute to the rum’s aging process, with temperature fluctuations encouraging the spirit to interact more actively with the wood.
This approach produces subtle coffee notes that enhance the rum’s natural vanilla, caramel, and oak characteristics. At 46% ABV, the rum maintains enough strength to carry the coffee influence while remaining approachable. The finish reveals the coffee most clearly, with notes of cocoa nibs and roasted nuts that linger alongside the rum’s traditional sweetness.
Pairing by: Erik Calviño
Tasting spirits alongside exceptional cigars aged in ideal conditions is a fun way to enjoy some of your favorite smokes. We’ve been fans of The Wise Man Maduro since its release in 2017 so we brought out an aged box and put it to the test with the Santa Teresa 1796 Arabica Coffee Cask Finish. The cigar’s heavy dose of dark chocolate and roasted almonds combined seamlessly with the rum’s vanilla, oak, and coffee notes while the foundational pepper and sweet earthy base held the sweetness at bay.
