Florian Wicki from Skvader approached us more than a year ago with the idea of developing a Kaffee Stängeli. Skvader is a small manufactory based in Basel, which devotes itself entirely to good coffee and, just like us, attaches great importance to craftsmanship and origin. He produces pure coffee liqueur as well as coffee & chocolate liqueur with laflor cacao nibs.
Based on the initial idea, Florian and ourselves set out to find another partner who understands the craft of the confectioner. After a long search we came across Chilestägli in Arth near Zug.
Chilestägli is a small confectionery and bakery run as a family business in the sixth generation since 1942. Even today, everything in Arth is made by hand, including the original Swiss “Kirsch Stängeli”, which is something that can no longer be found in many confectioneries, as its production by hand is too complicated, too time-consuming (almost 2 days) and too expensive. In spite of everything, we were able to convince the owners, the Felchlin family, and their head confectioner René Betschart of Chilestägli, of the value of the Coffee Liqueur Baton, and so we are delighted that this traditional product is now available in our shop.
The batons contain the 70% Fazenda Vera Cruz chocolate from Brazil and liqueur with coffee from Brazil and Ethiopia. The origin-specific coffee roasting is carried out by the coffee maker in Basel, it is then macerated for 2 weeks and later processed.
Photographer Tina Sturzenegger was at Chilestägli and documented the different production stages for you:
This is how the batons are produced
The wheat and corn starch is actually used as a casing for the batons, and the starch mixture is sifted into a frame and smoothed out. After that, the cavities are pressed into the powdered starch with a mold, which then produce the typical baton shape.
The coffee liqueur is now heated to an exact temperature in a copper kettle and poured into the powder molds with a funnel. After several hours, a thin layer will crystallize around the liquid. After the resting period, the powder is removed and the small liqueur baton blanks are coated with laflor Fazenda Vera Cruz 70%. This step requires a lot of skill, because the batons are very delicate and can easily break. After being coated with chocolate, each one is carefully packaged by hand.
The whole process at Chilestägli takes 2 days. We hope you like the final product, full of finest flavors and complex craftsmanship!