How to make espresso martini

Make a luxury espresso martini using our quick tips.

With coffee being the fundamental ingredient in the espresso martini, we thought we’d make a quick guide on how to make a luxury coffee based espresso martini. We recommend using 100% arabica grade 1 beans which can be found from our range of coffees (www.bounbeans.com/store).

The ingredients you will need are:

  1. cocktail shaker (and strainer if possible)

  2. martini glasses

  3. vodka

  4. khalua

  5. high grade coffee (brewed as an espresso)

Step 1. How to make espresso martini the start

Place your martini glasses in the freezer - this will keep them very chilled so that your can later pour your martini onto cold glasses.

Step 2. Brew your espresso

Take your time to brew your coffee the right way. This is going to be brewed as an espresso, with grade 1 beans, in this example we used Jamaica Blue Mountain Grade 1 coffee beans and Ethiopian Grade 1 beans. If you are doing this at home with no special equipment, you can use the italian moka pot / stove top. Be sure to get the grind size right - this is vital to get enough crema. For this recipe we'll be using espresso grind.

Step 3. Mixing the ingredients of the espresso martini

Place the coffee, 50ml vodka, 50 Kahlúa i(or similar coffee liqueur) in the cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for several minutes. The harder you shake the more crema you will produce.

Here we have our empty pour over coffee maker with the mesh filter which will be placed on top of the pour over coffee maker

Here we have our empty pour over coffee maker with the mesh filter which will be placed on top of the pour over coffee maker

Step 4. Strain into espresso martini glass

Remove your martini glasses from the freezer and strain the vigorously shaken vodka, espresso and Kahlúa into the glasses. If you don’t have a strainer you can use a tea strainer or any similar fine mesh strainer.

Espresso martini vigorously shaken to produce a layer of crema in the glass

Espresso martini vigorously shaken to produce a layer of crema in the glass

Helpful tips on how to make espresso martini

  • don’t’ be afraid to experiment with different doses of coffee / liquor etc

  • Mixologists we have consulted used vanilla liqueur, patron silver, or even mastiha - a sweet liqueur produced with the mastika resin from the Greek islands

  • you can add ice to the mix in the shaker

  • the more vigorously you shake the contents of the cocktail shaker the more crema is produced

  • always use chilled glasses

  • always use top quality beans - only 100% arabica

  • castor sugar can be used to create the sugar syrup which would go into the shaker too - a little bit of water with castor sugar stirred in a pan for a few minutes on low/medium heat will produce the syrup