Coffee is our ingredient of the season, and we’re slowly building up an archive of our favorite coffee recipes!
Feeling a bit thirsty? We have just the thing to take the edge off of your Thursday afternoon Sunday brunch. The Espresso Martini.
Admittedly, I had never heard of this delicious concoction until watching the latest season of Great British Bakeoff. When the lovely Kate mentioned this drink, I was all ears.
While in confessing mode, it’s best to be upfront about this being a martini in name only. Rather than a glass of gin and vermouth, the espresso martini starts with a quality espresso. Add to that some vodka, some liqueur, and even a touch of simple syrup to take the bitter edge off the coffee.
Your basic espresso martini calls for a coffee liqueur, like Kahlua. But for today’s special-special, I used some of our homemade hazelnut liqueur. You could wait a few weeks for your own nutty goodness, pick up a bottle of Frangelico tonight, or skip the nuts and go with Kahlua.
Hazelnut Espresso Martini Tips
The ingredients and tools for this recipe are simple:
- quality espresso
- vodka
- liqueur (either coffee or hazelnut)
- simple syrup (optional)
- ice
- cocktail shaker
- fancy glass
When it comes to mixing, you have a bit of flexibility, and it’s hard to go wrong. The simplest of recipes will call for equal parts espresso, vodka, and liqueur (skipping the simple syrup). Place those ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, pour, and enjoy.
Other recipes will call for slightly less espresso, often in a one to two ratio with vodka and a one to one ratio with the liqueur. That works out to 1 oz espresso, 1 oz liqueur, and 2 oz vodka.
The simple syrup comes into some recipes that further reduce the liqueur quantities, replacing what they take out with syrup. For example, you may see : 1 oz espresso, 0.5 oz liqueur, 0.5 oz simple syrup, 2 oz vodka.
I do think that the flavor is nice with slightly less espresso, no simple syrup, and maybe a touch more liqueur. Something like : 1 oz espresso, 2 oz vodka, and 1.5 oz hazelnut liqueur.
The beauty of this cocktail is that as long as you enjoy the flavor of espresso, you really can’t mess it up. Put something together in the shaker, take a sip, and then adjust accordingly.
And since it’s October, it’s worth mentioning that this could be a fun Halloween cocktail. It’s naturally dark and delicious, so you won’t have to mess around with artificially flavored cocktails in order to add a bit of spook. Of course, if you’re serving these up for Halloween. Please drop in a gummy eyeball.