🌿 Sambuca

Sambuca is the clear, very sweet Italian anise liqueur that is often served with coffee beans in the glass. In the EU it has its own category: distillates of anise, star anise or other aromatic herbs, at least 350 g of sugar per litre, 1–2 g/l of natural anethole and at least 38% vol. (76 proof), and it may not be coloured. Its traditional versions come from Lazio. ¹²

What the law says. Category 36 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 sets these limits and adds that the term "liqueur" may follow the name. Flavouring follows the liqueur rules of category 33, under which aniseed liqueurs may use only natural flavouring substances, flavouring preparations and flavouring foodstuffs. Its close relative mistrà is also colourless and anise-flavoured, but unsweetened and 40–47% vol. ¹

Two kinds of anise. According to the Lazio agricultural agency ARSIAL, Roman sambuca is based on essential oils obtained by steam distillation of the seeds of star anise (Illicium verum) and green anise (Pimpinella anisum). Star anise takes its name from its star of eight small pods and was imported from the East at the end of the 1600s; green anise is an annual plant about 60 cm tall with small white-yellow flowers and oval seeds, the anise best known in the West. ²

Roman sambuca. A syrup of hot water and sugar is made in a dissolver; alcohol, elder, coriander, natural flavourings and glucose as a thickener are added, the infusion is filtered and its taste, strength and density are checked before bottling. It has about 40% vol. and about 38% sugar. Production began in the early 1900s, as photographs, labels and bottles in the archive of a historic Roman firm show. ²

Viterbo sambuca. This version is distilled hot from star anise, elderflowers, alcohol, sugar and water, colourless, 40–43% vol. The ingredients infuse overnight; next morning the infusion is brought to the boil and cooled through the coil of a copper still. Two historic distilleries remain, Gorziglia (1904) and Viterbium (1906); Second World War bombing destroyed many stills, and today they use imported star anise. In the 1970s one director spoke of herbs macerated cold for weeks, the other of full hot distillation. ³

Old sambuca of Ciociaria. In Collepardo, province of Frosinone, the Sarandrea family makes a sweet liqueur from a distillate of fresh elderflowers (Sambucus nigra) and an infusion of several anise species, at 42% vol., with spring water of the Ernici mountains and no additives or thickeners. The recipe is linked to the Carthusian monks of Trisulti and to the Capuchin herbalist Father Paolo Sarandrea, who resumed his plant studies in 1918; in 1961 Pope John XXIII allowed the firm to call itself a supplier of the Vatican. ⁴

A Civitavecchia brand. According to the company, in 1945 Angelo Molinari, a perfumer skilled in blending, began experimenting in Civitavecchia with a star-anise liqueur whose recipe is still secret. His children spread it among the restaurants of Rome's Via Veneto; in the 1950s and 1960s it was drunk with coffee beans in the glass. A new plant opened in Colfelice in 1974 with up to 60,000 bottles a day, and in the 1980s–90s the brand moved into foreign markets. ⁷

Name and serving. ARSIAL cautiously traces the name to an Arabic word, probably "zammut", for an anise drink that arrived at the port of Civitavecchia on ships from the East. Sambuca is served neat as an "ammazzacaffè" after coffee, on ice or with cold water as a refreshing drink; one or two roasted coffee beans, the "fly", are chewed while drinking. ² Ciociaria sambuca goes with coffee, dark chocolate and ricotta desserts, and both Rome and Viterbo use it in sweets. ⁴²³

Why it matters to you. Sambuca has at least 350 g of sugar per litre, three and a half times the usual minimum for a liqueur, and at least 38% vol.; a coloured drink cannot be called sambuca. ¹ Old stories praise the healing virtues of herbs, but EU law bans health claims on drinks with more than 1.2% alcohol. ⁴⁵ WHO stresses that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. ⁶