How to Make an Espresso Martini? What Ingredients Are Needed? How to Extract Espresso? Do Coffee and Alcohol Taste Good Together?

Everyone knows that FrontStreet Coffee's main business is making coffee! So today, FrontStreet Coffee is going to share something naturally—cocktails!!

However! This is not your typical cocktail, as this drink will incorporate espresso. Moreover, since espresso constitutes a significant portion of the entire drink, the quality of the espresso will be intimately connected to the quality of this cocktail. Because of this, this cocktail is both simple and difficult to make! The simplicity lies in gathering the ingredients, while the difficulty lies in how demanding it is of the bartender's mastery across different domains. So next, let's get slightly tipsy in this winter! Let's get to know the world's most refreshing cocktail—the "Espresso Martini"!

Espresso Martini

The Espresso Martini, also known as the espresso martini, is a new-generation cocktail derived from the martini. It originated in the 1980s at a London bar called Soho Brasserie (still in operation), created by a very famous bartender—Dick Bradsell.

According to his daughter Bea, Dick invented the Espresso Martini because one night in the 80s, a supermodel walked into the bar and asked him, the bartender, for a cocktail. But the request was quite strange, as she wanted a cocktail that could both keep her awake and make her intoxicated (her exact words were: "wake me up, then fxxk me up."). If we were to simplify this, we could actually understand it as "vibrant black." Coincidentally, the bar had just installed an espresso machine at that time, and even more coincidentally, the coffee machine was installed right next to the bar. So Dick had a sudden inspiration to combine espresso with vodka, and by adding coffee liqueur and syrup to balance the flavors, a cocktail that could both refresh and intoxicate was born!

After this incident, the Espresso Martini's fame grew tremendously. Countless tourists visit this bar every year just to taste this uniquely characteristic cocktail. Interestingly, although the Espresso Martini was born in London, UK, because many bars in Australia evolved from cafes, this led to the Espresso Martini unexpectedly becoming the most popular cocktail locally. Although the ingredients of this cocktail seem simple, for bartenders, this is actually a challenge that cannot be underestimated. Because espresso accounts for a full third of the glass, the quality of the espresso largely determines the taste of the entire cocktail.

Therefore, bartenders not only need to understand cocktail mixing but also need to know how to make high-quality espresso. Most bars are not equipped with coffee machines, and even if they are, bartenders rarely receive formal training and cannot extract a good espresso. So, although the ingredients for this drink are simple, for most bartenders, making it is not an easy task.

And when a bartender extracts a high-quality espresso, they then need to adjust the ingredients based on the taste of the espresso. Assuming we use dark-roasted coffee beans, the espresso is full of burnt aroma and chocolate bitterness, then the bartender needs to add sugar to reduce the bitterness, because a proper Espresso Martini needs to achieve the perfect balance between vodka, espresso, and sweet coffee liqueur. As you can see, this is not a simple matter.

How to Make an Espresso Martini?

Although cocktail making is not FrontStreet Coffee's specialty, there's a bar next door!!! So, FrontStreet Coffee only needs to extract the espresso and take it to the bar next door, which can solve the professional deficiencies of both.

Mr. Dick originally used 25ml of Ristretto espresso, so FrontStreet Coffee is also using short-extracted Ristretto this time. FrontStreet Coffee mentioned the key points of Ristretto extraction in yesterday's article, and interested parties can review it. The extraction plan is 20g of coffee grounds, extracted over 28 seconds to yield 30ml of coffee liquid. Because FrontStreet Coffee's espresso blend is the medium-dark roast "Warm Sun Blend," and combined with short extraction, there is less bitterness and extremely high sweetness. The bartender made slight adjustments to the sugar usage, with the following ingredients: 50ml vodka, 30ml coffee liqueur, 5ml sugar syrup, and 25ml espresso. The preparation process is: first pour all ingredients in, then stir well, then pour into a shaker filled with ice and shake. When these ingredients form rich foam in the shaker, you can pour it into a cocktail glass!

Finally, garnish with three coffee beans on the dense foam, use a torch to roast and release the aroma, and then you can enjoy it.

Take a small sip, and first you'll feel the dense texture brought by the foam, followed by the flavor expression of the cocktail. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, the taste of the entire cocktail achieves a balance among the three elements—neither masks the other, none are prominent, and they blend together harmoniously. Thanks to the whiskey aroma and berry flavors inherent in the Warm Sun Blend, the entire cocktail's expression is richer and more varied, with a texture not as heavy as imagined, but very smooth. Overall, it's excellent!! Delicious, and we also recommend you give it a try!

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