Amaretto Flavored Coffee

The finest gourmet Arabica beans are used as the base to this slightly sweet, flavored coffee. Amaretto flavored coffee is reminiscent of marzipan, a confection used in baking which contains powdered sugar, ground almonds, and apricots. The legend of the Amaretto liquor begins in a romantic northern region of Italy called Lombardy. It was there, in 1525, that Leonardo Da Vinci was commissioned to paint a sanctuary along with a student named Bernardiono Luini. In need of a model, Luini found a widowed innkeeper that resembled the Madonna he was to sketch. The story goes that they fell madly in love and had quite a romantic affair. When his artwork was done, and he was ready to depart, she wished to present him with a gift of her affection. Being that she came from an unpretentious lifestyle, she decided to present Luini with a homemade gift of steeped apricot kernels in brandy. The actual name for her homemade gift, amaretto, came much later. The brandy she made had a slightly bitter taste, hence the reason Amaretto comes from the root, "amaro," meaning "bitter."