Russian Cocaine
Last Friday night was drinking night. Unusually, I didn’t need to dash and catch a train back to Sheffield - Gill had brought Rowan & Lola to London, and was coming to meet me later. We trickled out of the office towards the Cod, as is becoming habitual on a Friday night (and many other nights, come to that). As well as the usual suspects (mainly Mark, but various other hard reality degenerates) we had two guests: Arnon & Bjarni from Icelandic company innn.
I had drunk with Icelandics before. People from sub-arctic countries seem to have an incredible love of vodka, and in Iceland, which is about as sub-arctic as they come, this love is even more intense that the Finns, Poles or Russians (OK, maybe they draw with the Russians). Well, things started off fairly gently - the usual 3 or 4 bottles of champagne, all quite manageable. Then BJ’s friend, also from Iceland, turned up, and talk turned to another friend who downed 78 vodka shots in succession and not only survived but walked away from the scene. And for some reason (no doubt provoked by Mark) things started to turn silly.
The cause of this silliness was our introduction to Russian Cocaine. I haven’t managed to find a description of this cocktail anywhere else on the web (actually, cocktail is the wrong word, it’s more a drinking method) so I though I’d present it here, as a general disservice to the world.
The drink part is simple - pure vodka. I think we were drinking quadruple shots, although it may just have been doubles of the Cod’s exceedingly generous measures. In a shot glass. On its own. The interesting part, as with tequila, is in the external ingredients.
Take two slices of lemons (we made do with wedges, but apparently slices are de rigeur). On one of these slices, sprinkle ground coffee (as much as you can fit) and sugar. Sandwich the second slice on top - you now have a coffee-sugar sandwich in Lemon “bread”.
Munch on your lemon sandwich - take a good bite, devour all of the flesh (and dissolving coffee & sugar with it), swallow it and immediately chase it down with the vodka (in one go, of course). And enjoy.
The immediate feeling is one of instant awakeness, awareness, and hyperactivity. Followed some 15-20 minutes later by failure of the legs followed by inability to control the brain.
The reason for the ingredients is, apparently, as follows:
- The lemon opens up whatever it is inside you that’s going to act as a receptor to this stuff
- The coffee perks you up with an instant caffeine hit
- The sugar gives you a burst of energy
- The vodka… well, the vodka does the rest.
And that’s it. I can’t remember any more of the evening. Sure it was good though.