The first time I had an Espresso Martini was on my birthday at Jamie’s Italian.
I knew there and then that I had to recreate one at home. This meant that I had to venture out and buy Kahlua. I hid it among the groceries, embarrassed to be buying such a ‘holiday’ drink on the dreary Tuesday morning ‘big shop’.
It has become dangerously simple to make one of these now we have an espresso maker. We found out how easy drinking they are too on a girls-night-in a while ago. You can knock them back all evening, but beware, you’ll be up chattering away into the small hours as the coffee gives you an extra lift to keep you awake; like a less trashy Vodka and Red Bull.
Fancy one? Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add one measure of vodka, one of Kahlua and a small strong espresso and give it a good shake.
Pour it into a martini glass and drop in 3 coffee beans. The bartender at Jamie’s told me the beans signify luck, happiness and….well I can’t remember what the third thing was but you get the gist.
If you can’t bring yourself to buy coffee liqueur you can just increase the vodka and add sugar syrup for sweetness. I did that for a while until I used up all the sugar syrup, oh, and that one night where Mummy had got to go and have a little lie down before dinner.
I only do all this for you.
You know that, right?
Sally
June 3, 2012
A thing of beauty.
carrietxxxxx
June 3, 2012
Lovely idea for those get together evenings with the girls. I will probably leave out the coffee beans for 2 reasons( hopefully not risking too much health,happiness & what ever the third thing was ….)
a) I’ll probably choke on one.
b)probably need more expensive dental work.
Looking forward to more coffee-tastic recipes
Kind regards ,Caroline
Heike Herrling
June 3, 2012
I totally agree – the sophistiCat alternative to jagerbombs 🙂 I loooveeee espresso martinis – makes me miss my best girlfriends (none of whom live in the same city as me). Must give this recreation at home a go!
gingerandpumpkin
June 3, 2012
Wow I love coffee! I have to do it!
Geneva M. Wilgus
June 3, 2012
This just might be the cocktail to turn my liquor-hating boyfriend into a convert!! Nicely done!!
egg me on
June 3, 2012
Gorgeous photo. Is that a compass?? Haven’t seen one of those since elementary school.
thingswemake.co.uk
June 16, 2012
It is. I was all out of inspiration for the photos for this so Ed suggested a bit of a travelling theme as it was the day before we flew to the US.
wendy@chezchloe
June 4, 2012
Classy. And umm yes… I think I can bring myself to buy some liqueur… oh wait- silly me, I already have some 🙂 Always.
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide
June 4, 2012
Katherine loves these and it looks great to me too. Nice photos as always.
natasha
September 19, 2012
just made one but as I didn’t have Kalua I added in a tiny amount of baileys! It was great!!!!
thingswemake.co.uk
September 19, 2012
Ooh I bet! Like an Irish coffee 😛
CoffeeMuffins (@coffeemuffins)
December 31, 2012
I think I might need a couple of these to get me through NYE. Tired already and it’s barely past noon!
Tash
January 31, 2013
Use vanilla vodka (infuse a few vanilla pods in your bottle or buy the mixed stuff) instead of regular vodka for a bit sweeter mix! You can also shake a dash of baileys in cream to float ontop if you can’t do black coffee 🙂
Kim
February 2, 2013
I have been searching for this recipe for years! Thank you so much. I made my own sugar syrup instead of the Kahlua because I don’t like it too sweet. It is perfect!
Becky K.
February 21, 2013
Great recipe! I am curious to try this with Smirnoff’s espresso infused vodka
thingswemake.co.uk
February 21, 2013
Great idea!