“For decades the coffee liqueur category was defined by bottles that tasted more like coffee-flavored syrup than coffee — sweet, thin, and largely interchangeable. Then the espresso martini came back, bartenders started reading labels, and suddenly the quality of what was going into the tin actually mattered. The best coffee liqueurs now start where any good cup does: with real beans, properly roasted, and enough restraint on the sugar to let the roast speak. One bottle stood out in this year’s category at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition: Reformation Coffee Liqueur.”