Blue Curaçao
The bright blue liqueur that tastes of orange, from an island where the peels come from. What blue curaçao is, why it's blue, and which glass to serve it in.
The brands behind orange liqueur
Two Dutch liqueur houses and the French classic from the same family.
Bols
The world's oldest distilling brand, with a liqueur range found in almost every cocktail bar.
About Bols →De Kuyper
Schiedam-based family business with one of the broadest liqueur collections, from blue curaçao to berry genever.
About De Kuyper →Cointreau
The best-known triple sec, from Angers. The same orange family, but drier, stronger, and colorless.
About Cointreau →Grand Marnier, Malibu, Passoã, and Safari are also featured on glazen.nl.
Every blue curaçao, listed by brand
2 brands and 1 flavor, each with its own page about taste, cocktails, and the right glass.
An orange too bitter to eat
Blue curaçao is a liqueur made from dried orange peel, and its story begins on the island of Curaçao. In the sixteenth century, Spanish colonists planted orange trees there, but in the dry soil they produced a small, green fruit that was far too bitter to eat. The peel, however, proved exceptionally aromatic, and when dried and steeped in alcohol, it made a liqueur with a pronounced orange flavor. The fruit is now called laraha and grows only there.
The blue color has nothing to do with any of that: it comes from coloring, and there’s no difference in taste between blue curaçao and the clear or orange version of the same liqueur. It’s purely for visual effect in the glass, and that effect is the whole reason this bottle is found in every bar. No blue curaçao, no Blue Lagoon, no Blue Hawaii, and no Swimming Pool. Most brands are around 20 to 21%.
In brief
Four bottles from the same family
Blue curaçao, triple sec, and Cointreau are all orange liqueurs. The difference lies in the color, sweetness, and ABV.
Bols Blue Curaçao
The bottle you’ll see in almost every bar. Sweet, with a distinct bitter orange peel underneath and a vivid color.
De Kuyper Blue Curaçao
From the Schiedam liqueur house, a little softer and bottled at a slightly lower ABV. In the glass, they’re almost indistinguishable.
Triple sec
From the same orange family, but colorless and much stronger. Drier, and the standard in a Margarita or Cosmopolitan.
Cointreau
The best-known triple sec, from Angers, France. Drier and more refined than blue curaçao, and bottled at 40%.
Blue curaçao is sweeter and weaker than triple sec. If you substitute one for the other, adjust the sugar.
Sweet orange, with a bitter peel
Orange peel
Exactly the scent of grated orange peel: bright, oily, and slightly bitter. Of course, you can’t smell the coloring.
Sweet and full-bodied
Sweet and syrupy, with orange and a bitter edge from the peel. At 20%, the alcohol stays completely in the background.
Short and bittersweet
A short finish where the sugar fades and the bitterness of the peel lingers. This side comes through best with lemon or lime.
Flavor profile of a 21% blue curaçao. Triple sec and Cointreau score much lower on sweetness and higher on strength.
Three ways to use blue curaçao
This liqueur is rarely drunk neat: it’s there to give a cocktail both flavor and color. So use it sparingly.
In a Blue Lagoon
3 cl blue curaçao and 4 cl vodka in a highball glass full of ice, topped up with lemonade and a slice of lemon. The simplest blue cocktail there is, and still the most ordered.
Blue Lagoon recipe →As coloring in a tropical cocktail
A splash of 1.5 to 3 cl is enough to turn an entire cocktail blue. More mostly adds sugar; it hardly deepens the color.
All blue cocktails →Over ice with sparkling water
4 cl over lots of ice in a highball glass, topped up with sparkling water and a slice of lime. Light, refreshing, and at 20%, much gentler than its color suggests.
Glass: highball glass →The most famous blue cocktails
Almost every blue cocktail starts here. The color does the work; the orange brings the flavor.
Blue Lagoon
Vodka, blue curaçao and lemonade over lots of ice. Three ingredients.
Blue Hawaii
Rum, vodka, blue curaçao, pineapple and sweet-and-sour mix. Tiki at its finest.
Swimming Pool
Rum, vodka, pineapple, coconut and a layer of blue curaçao on top.
All blue cocktails
The full collection of recipes with blue curaçao, all in one place.The right glass for blue cocktails
In a blue cocktail, the glass accounts for half the effect: the clearer the glass, the brighter the color. These are the glasses we recommend ourselves.
Everything you still wanted to know about blue curaçao
Can't find your question here? Browse our cocktail recipes or get in touch.
To the cocktail recipes →What is the alcohol percentage of blue curaçao?
What does blue curaçao taste like?
Why is blue curaçao blue?
What's the difference between blue curaçao and triple sec?
Does blue curaçao really come from Curaçao?
How much blue curaçao goes in a cocktail?
Buy blue curaçao
Want the bottle delivered straight to your door? Order blue curaçao online at Gall & Gall.
Prices as of November 3, 2026, as provided by Gall & Gall. You can see the current price and stock at Gall & Gall. Glazen.nl receives a small commission if you buy something through these links; you pay nothing extra. No alcohol under 18.
