I Recreated the Ube Moon

(To preface, this post is non-sponsored, and intended for readers aged 21+)

Last year, I took a trip to Seattle, Washington, where I visited some trendy spaces (some of which you can find in a prior post here).

On that blog post, I discussed a drink called Ube Moon, found at Gemini Room located down Chophouse Row. It’s basically a modified espresso martini, and I loveeee a good espresso martini. The listed ingredients are: cold brew, borghetti, vodka, and ube cream. Initially, I was turned off to the description of Ube Moon because it sounded too sweet, but once I tried it, I wanted at least 3 more. I decided to recreate this drink back home, because I’ve day-dreamed about it ever since.

Okay so, one of the first ingredients is Borghetti, which is quite different from other coffee liquors, such as Kahlúa. It’s not as sweet and has a much stronger coffee flavor. However, it was something I didn’t have on me as I was making this drink, so Kahlúa will have to do for now. My main concern was the Ube cream. To this day, I have no clue what they used. I could’ve asked them, but for some reason that didn’t occur to me at the time. I went on google to search for Ube cream, and all the results showed me Ube ice cream. I was quite confused on all the dead ends I kept reaching, so I went to brainstorming.

There is an import store not too far from me, so first idea was to just buy Ube ice cream. Then, I went to look on Amazon and came across an Ube sweetened condensed creamer, which I reluctantly settled for since it seemed easier to incorporate into this kind of recipe. I also found the rose petals there, as well.

It was a couple weeks later that I happened upon something so perfect: Ube Cream Liqueur, which is made and shipped all the way from the Philippines.

At first, it was on back order, and I entered my email fully believing I’d never get my hands on it. However, less than a month later I was emailed about the item being back in stock, which I bought embarrassingly fast.

I tore off the bottle cap without thinking of getting any good shots of the bottle first, except this one rushed photo. The taste is not too sweet, and could actually be enjoyed on its own.

*To make an Ube Moon mocktail, I recommend this non-spirited gin, although you can even opt for a rum or tequila alternative, if you don’t mind the color of the cocktail being a bit darker. You’ll want a non-alcoholic coffee “liqueur”, and an ounce of the Ube sweetened condensed milk, along with your cold brew and rose petals.*

Other than the Ube cream liqueur, which was roughly $60 after shipping, I was attempting to be a baddie on a budget, which explains the bottom-shelf vodka and Kahlúa I already owned. As mentioned before, I recommend using Borghetti to make this drink just a bit better. Below, you’ll find a recipe that I believe best recreates the Ube Moon.

So I’m deciding to switch things up juuust a bit in my blogs going forward; the tarot readings will now be their own separate posts, so as to keep things more bite-sized and coherent, as well as to avoid overwhelming myself into including too many things into just one blog post. I hope you have fun trying this recipe out, and as always with drinking, enjoy responsibly!