In Chile, Christmas falls at the start of summer, so the festive drink is served cold. Cola de mono, which means monkey's tail, is milk simmered with sugar, cinnamon and cloves, flavored with coffee and vanilla, chilled, and fortified with aguardiente, a strong clear spirit distilled from grapes, or with pisco. Families make it by the bottle through December and pour it at Christmas and New Year, alongside pan de Pascua, the country's spiced Christmas fruit cake.

Nobody agrees on the name. One story involves a president, a rainy evening and a revolver; another points to the monkey on the label of an imported anise liqueur whose bottles were reused for the drink; and a dictionary of Chilean words published in 1901 suggests, with admirable plainness, that it is simply named for its color. We decline to choose. Everyone does agree that it is smooth, sweet and a good deal stronger than it tastes, so we pour it into small glasses, and the zero proof version is a pleasure in its own right.

The spiced coffee milk

Ingredients

• 4 cups (950 ml) whole milk
• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 5 whole cloves
• 1 strip orange peel
• 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee or instant espresso powder
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) hot water
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

Method

1. Put the milk, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peel and nutmeg in the heavy saucepan. Set it over medium heat and stir often until the sugar dissolves and the milk is steaming, about 6 to 8 minutes.
2. Turn the heat to low and let the milk barely simmer for 5 minutes, stirring the bottom of the pan every minute so nothing catches. If the milk starts to rise up the sides, lift the pan off the heat for a moment.
3. Dissolve the instant coffee in the hot water in the small bowl, then stir it into the milk. Take the pan off the heat.
4. Leave the pan to cool for 30 minutes, stirring now and then to stop a skin forming. Pour it through the fine sieve into the jug to remove the spices and peel, then stir in the vanilla.

Chilling and fortifying

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (180 ml) Chilean aguardiente or pisco
• 1 handful ice cubes

Method

1. Once the coffee milk is no warmer than room temperature, stir in the aguardiente or pisco. Taste it; if you would like it sweeter, stir in another tablespoon of sugar until dissolved.
2. Use the funnel to pour it into clean bottles, seal them and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
3. Shake each bottle well, since the spices and milk settle, then pour into small glasses, about 1/2 cup (120 ml) each, over a cube of ice if you like.

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