So you bloody love getting on the ‘spressy tinis when you’re out on the town. Who can blame you? They’re perfect for if you need that kick up the ass to last a few more hours on the turps, fantastic for when you wanna lean right into your basic bitch territory, and hella impressive when you crack out one of these espresso martini recipes at drinks this long weekend/birthday/Tuesday night.
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We decided to round up some of the best and strangest espresso martini recipes so you can look like the real professional mixologist that you 100% absolutely aren’t. But hey, gotta show off something at family reunions so you don’t look like a complete dropkick, right?
Ideal tools you’ll need for these recipes is a cocktail shaker, a strainer or fine sieve, and some nice-ass martini glasses. Oh and putting this banger on repeat for the whole creation process.
1. Classic Espresso Martini
Absolute classic espresso martini recipes are the ones that have minimal ingredients, with results in maximum ‘woooo!’ and boomerang’d cheers. This one’s a real beginner’s cocktail to shake up, which also means it’s quite difficult to fuck up entirely (just make sure you have the lid on the shaker properly.)
We took a leaf from Jamie Oliver for the tried and true espresso martini.
Ingredients:
50ml vodka
35ml coffee liqueur (like Kahlua, Tia Maria, or Mr. Black)
A shot of espresso
Coffee beans (for garnish)
Chuck all the liquid ingredients into a chilled cocktail shaker over ice that you’ve just grabbed from the freezer, the less melted, the better. Pop the lid on securely (so your drink doesn’t end up all over the kitchen) and give it a red hot shake.
Give the shaker a hit to pop the seal and strain the cocktail into a chilled martini glass. Let the crema (that creamy-lookin’ bit on top) settle, and garnish with a couple of coffee beans.
2. Salted Caramel Espresso Martini
Now you’ve got the basics of espresso martini recipes down-pat, it’s time to get fancy with your newfound skills. Prepare the knock the socks of grandma at Christmas with this red-hot salted caramel ‘tini from another Jamie, this time Chef Jamie Gwen.
Grab your cocktail shaker again and this time add:
30mL vodka
60mL butterscotch schnapps or caramel liqueur
30mL espresso shot
And then the pièce de résistance, the sea-salted caramel, which is made up of:
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
A couple of generous pinches of sea salt
For the caramel, pop everything in a saucepan on high heat and bring to a boil. Drop it the heat down to low and let it simmer for five minutes.
While that’s happening on the stovetop, chuck all your martini ingredients in your cocktail shaker full of ice, secure the lid, and shake that bad boy like all the mums at that weird Zumba class you went to a few years ago.
Once the caramel’s all ready to go, strain the martini into your glass and drizzle some of the warm caramel over the top.
3. Dirty Chai Martini
If you’re into the warming feelings of a zesty chai, but also love that kick of coffee, then I’m assuming you know all about the Dirty Chai – yep, a chai latte with a shot of coffee. And you know what? You can turn that bad boy into a martini because you can turn everything into a martini if you really want to.
For this one, we’ve taken a note from this espresso martini recipe With Food And Love, who mix brewed chai with a couple of shots of espresso and a healthy dose of the good stuff. BTW this makes four (4) serves so do not come at me about the glug of vodka in this recipe.
You’re going to need to prep this one a touch first, so get together:
4 chai teabags
1 cup water
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/8 tsp himalayan pink salt
60ml brewed espresso
1 cup plant-based milk (my fave is almond)
120ml/2 shots vodka
Handful of ice
Star anise pods (for garnish, don’t chew on ’em)
Boil the water and brew the teabags, letting the chai steep for about 3-4 minutes. Once steeped, chuck out the teabags and mix in the maple syrup and salt. Set aside to cool with the fresh-brewed espresso.
In your shaker, combine all ingredients (chai, coffee, milk, vodka, ice) smack the lid on, and give it a good shake.
Strain it all into four glasses (or one big one, ‘cos it’s been a long week) and garnish with star anise.
4. Pumpkin Spiced Espresso Martini
If you can’t seem to get enough of those pumpkin spiced lattes that have made their way over from the US in recent years, then recreate it with one of the nicest pumpkin-spiced espresso martini recipes from Waitrose. It’s just like that one you get from that coffee chain, but way, way boozier.
Using a bit of ACTUAL pumpkin puree (please, not that tinned stuff, it’s offensive to pumpkins), this espresso martini recipe calls for a pre-made pumpkin spice syrup, so make sure you put aside a bit of time to whizz that up too.
For the pumpkin spice syrup you’re going to want to grab:
170g brown sugar
225g caster sugar
360ml water
85g pumpkin purée
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
25ml vanilla extract
Simmer the sugars and in the water on the stovetop until all the sugar is dissolved. Then whisk through the pumpkin purée and spices, and simmer that for eight minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool the mixture and stir in the vanilla extract.
Now, for the boozy side of this PSL-style espresso martini recipe, grab yourself:
40ml vodka
15ml Kahlúa
10ml pumpkin spice syrup
25ml espresso or strong-brewed coffee
A strip of orange zest (cos you’re a fancy bench)
As always, pop all of these ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill it with ice, bash on the lid, and shake it like that can of Coke you pranked your high school best mate with that one time. Strain into a martini glass and twist the zest over the top to get all those zesty, citrusy oils on the top of the glass.
5. Gin Espresso Martini
What’s this? Espresso martini recipes that don’t involve vodka – the one spirit that everyone has likely ruined themselves on at least once in their lives? (Yes vodka-raspberry doubles, I’m looking at you).
Yep, it’s a recipe that instead calls for vodka’s clear-spirited cousin who’s always doused in weird perfumes – gin.
Not a lot to this recipe from Red, because sometimes you just don’t need to fuck around too much to make a masterpiece. What you’re going to need is:
60ml/two shots strong coffee
40ml gin (whatever your fave is, really)
10ml gomme syrup (simple/sugar syrup with gum arabic/Acacia gum in it)
Literally chuck all of these into your chilled cocktail shaker full of ice and shake hard. Then double strain that bad boy into a martini glass and garnish with coffee beans.
6. Guinness Martini
If you’re partial to a beer, or you want a cocktail that’ll fill you up as much as a couple of slices of bread will, then try your hand at one of the weirder espresso martini recipes, a Guinness martini.
Yep, it includes that tall can of brown that you tend to never ever touch except for St. Patrick’s Day and considering that’s coming up in a couple of months, why not knock together this ‘tini from BBC Good Food with the triple punch; stout beer, vodka, and dark rum?
Ok here’s your shopping list:
50ml dark rum
25ml chilled espresso
25ml vodka
25ml creme de cacao
100ml Guinness stout
Get your hands on a jug because you’re absolutely NOT going to shake up beer – if you’ve seen The Simpsons, you’ll know what happens when you shake up beer.
Anyway, pour the rum into the jug with a couple of handfuls of ice, and then add in the rest of the ingredients. Give it all a good stir until the jug feels cold to the touch, and then tip your stouty, rummy, espresso martini into a couple of glasses.
