Bartenderly
The Espresso Martini, Revisited
Try our simple take on a vodka + coffee cocktail classic, plus a rum-soaked variation!
Want a cocktail veganized? Bought a bottle of something and don’t know what to do with it? Need a cool mocktail? Want to make your own liqueur? We’ll drink to that. Bartenderly is here to make all your vegan drinking dreams come true. If you want to check on whether a specific brand of alcohol is vegan, I recommend Barnivore.
The widespread popularity of a drink can result in its being taken less seriously, but this hasn’t stopped the Espresso Martini remaining current since its inception in 1983 — when a customer infamously asked London bartender Dick Bradsell for something to “wake me up and fuck me up.” Bradsell had a knack for creating cocktails that instantly felt like they’d been around forever, and so a modern classic was born: smooth and boozy, with a welcome caffeine kick.
When made to the original recipe — vodka, coffee liqueur, espresso and sugar syrup — an Espresso Martini should be naturally vegan. But, as with any cocktail of its stature, infinite variations occur from bar to bar. A few places I worked at added Baileys, another bar topped theirs with meringue. However, even the original can be compromised, if the syrup uses bone char…
