Difference between Cointreau and Triple Sec

Cocktail drinks are refreshing and energising at the same time. Alcoholic cocktails have such a large variety that you might get baffled to choose the best one. Some of the popular cocktails contain orange-flavoured liquor, with Triple Sec and Cointreau being the most popular among these types of spirits. Both of these liquors are made from dried peels of sweet and bitter oranges but there are certain differences which separate them from one another. Cointreau and Triple Sec have great difference in their prices and you should be able to distinguish between these two drinks so you can be certain while purchasing.

Cointreau is a brand name of orange flavoured liquor and it produced in Saint-Barthelemy-d’Anjou, France. It is a type of Triple Sec liquors and is served both before and after the meals. Cointreau is used in a number of alcoholic cocktails for its sweet orange taste.

Triple Sec is not a brand but a type of liquor produced from orange peels. The name implies that this liquor has been “triple distilled”. Triple Sec liquors are used in Margarita, White Lady, Long Island Iced Tea and Cosmopolitan cocktails, and is also consumed neat as a ‘digestif’ after and before the meals.

Instructions

  • 1

    Cointreau

    Cointreau is a type of Triple Sec but the manufacturers haven’t provided the entire details of the distillation process, which implies Cointreau might not always be triple-distilled. Cointreau and other Triple Sec orange liquors have quite similar taste and are used as substitutes of one another in cocktails. The manufacturers of Cointreau use orange peels from around the globe, including Brazil, Haiti and Spain, for making this liquor. It is the variety of different orange peels from around the word which makes Cointreau different from other Triple Sec drinks. Dried orange peels are macerated in red copper stills for the extraction of oil. However, the most important difference between Cointreau and Triple Sec is the alcoholic content. Conventional Triple Sec liquors contain 20 to 25 percent alcohol, whilst Cointreau has alcoholic contents as high as 40 percent.

    Image Courtesy: ohgo.sh

  • 2

    Triple Sec

    This class of orange flavoured liquors contains far less alcoholic contents than Cointreau, rums and whiskeys. Triple Sec is actually mixed with water after the distillation process, which decreases its alcoholic percentage as compare to Cointreau. It also costs you less than a quarter to buy a Triple Sec than you have to pay for the same quantity of Cointreau.

    Image Courtesy: acecocktails.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


five × = 25