Blue Curaçao
The vivid blue liqueur that tastes like orange, from an island where the peels come from. What blue curaçao is, why it is blue, and which glass goes with it.
An orange that was too bitter to eat
Blue curaçao is a liqueur made from dried orange peel, and the story begins on the island of Curaçao. Spanish colonists planted orange trees there in the sixteenth century, but in the dry soil they produced a small, green fruit that was far too bitter to eat. The peel, however, proved exceptionally aromatic, and when dried and steeped in alcohol, it produced a liqueur with a pronounced orange flavor. That fruit is now called laraha and exists only there.
The blue color has nothing to do with any of that: it comes from coloring, and there is no difference in taste between blue curaçao and the clear or orange version of the same liqueur. It is purely for the effect in the glass, and that effect is the whole reason this bottle is found in every bar. Without blue curaçao, there would be no Blue Lagoon, no Blue Hawaii, and no Swimming Pool. Most brands are around 20 to 21%.
In brief
Four bottles from the same family
Blue curaçao, triple sec, and Cointreau are all orange liqueurs. The difference lies in the color, sweetness, and alcohol percentage.
Bols Blue Curaçao
The bottle you see in almost every bar. Sweet, with a distinct bitter orange-peel note underneath, and a vivid color.
De Kuyper Blue Curaçao
From the liqueur house in Schiedam, slightly smoother and at a fractionally lower percentage. In the glass, they are barely distinguishable from each other.
Triple sec
The same orange family, but colorless and considerably stronger. Drier, and the standard in a Margarita or Cosmopolitan.
Cointreau
The best-known triple sec, from Angers in France. Drier and more refined than blue curaçao, and bottled at 40% ABV.
Blue curaçao is sweeter and weaker than triple sec. If you replace one with the other, adjust the sugar accordingly.
Sweet orange, with a bitter peel
Orange peel
Exactly the aroma of grated orange peel: bright, oily, and slightly bitter. You obviously cannot smell the coloring.
Sweet and full-bodied
Sweet and syrupy, with orange and a bitter edge from the peel. At 20%, the alcohol remains completely in the background.
Short and bittersweet
A short finish in which the sugar fades and the bitterness of the peel lingers. It comes through best with lemon or lime.
Flavor profile of a blue curaçao at 21%. Triple sec and Cointreau score much lower on sweetness and higher on strength.
Three ways to use blue curaçao
This liqueur is rarely drunk neat: it is there to give a cocktail both flavor and color. So use it sparingly.
In a Blue Lagoon
3 cl blue curaçao and 4 cl vodka in a highball glass full of ice, topped up with lemonade and a lemon wedge. The simplest blue cocktail there is, and still the most ordered.
Blue Lagoon recipe →As a colorant in a tropical cocktail
A splash of 1.5 to 3 cl is enough to turn an entire cocktail blue. More mainly means more sugar; it hardly makes the color deeper.
All blue cocktails →Over ice with sparkling water
4 cl over plenty of ice in a highball glass, topped up with sparkling water and a lime wheel. Light, refreshing, and at 20%, much softer than the color suggests.
Glass: highball glass →The best-known blue cocktails
Almost every blue cocktail starts here. The color does the work, while the orange provides the flavor.
Blue Lagoon
Vodka, blue curaçao, and lemonade over plenty of ice. Three ingredients.
Blue Hawaii
Rum, vodka, blue curaçao, pineapple, and sweet-and-sour mix. Tiki at its finest.
Swimming Pool
Rum, vodka, pineapple, coconut, and a layer of blue curaçao on top.
All blue cocktails
The complete collection of recipes with blue curaçao, all in one place.The right glass for blue cocktails
With a blue cocktail, the glass accounts for half the effect: the clearer the glass, the brighter the color. These are the glasses we recommend ourselves.
The brands behind the orange liqueur
Two Dutch liqueur houses and the French classic from the same family.
Bols
The world's oldest distillery brand, with a liqueur range found in virtually every cocktail bar.
About Bols →De Kuyper
Schiedam family business with one of the broadest liqueur collections, from blue curaçao to berry jenever.
About De Kuyper →Cointreau
The best-known triple sec, from Angers. From the same orange liqueur family, but drier, stronger, and colorless.
About Cointreau →Grand Marnier, Malibu, Passoã, and Safari are also on glazen.nl.
Everything you still wanted to know about blue curaçao
Can't find your question? Check out our cocktail recipes or get in touch.
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