“I wouldn’t say there’s a drink I hate making, but I think it’s universally accepted that the best espresso martinis are made with real espresso, which a lot of people don’t have on hand, so it’s like, read the room.”īut demand for the drink knows no boundaries, which is another curious aspect of espresso-martini mania. “I don’t keep the ingredients on the bar specifically so that we can’t make them,” he admits.
“It’s obnoxious,” she continues, “and also just feels trendy.”Īt the Williamsburg lounge Night Moves, bartender Orlando Franklin McCray takes efforts to avoid making the drink. She says that the popularity makes the drink even more frustrating, because it’s impossible to tell if people actually like them, or just like that they’re popular. “I love espresso martinis, but everyone is tired of them because they are annoying,” she explains. “The heat of espresso also makes the shake more intense - I’ve had a few shakers pop open and stain my shirts.”Īnother bartender, who asked us not to use her name for fear of offending her own espresso-martini-loving customers, expressed similar reservations about the drink. Because for as simple as an espresso martini often is - espresso, vodka, coffee liqueur, some kind of sweetener - the drink’s unique makeup can cause problems for bartenders. “The drinks themselves are a bit annoying, pulling a shot then shaking it,” says Ella Downs, who works at an East Village bar. It is a drink that rewards preparedness, both physically and mentally. Demand has gotten so extreme that, at Café Altro Paradiso in Soho, the bar staff batches its espresso ahead of time to prepare for the deluge of orders that comes in each night. “I’ve probably made more espresso martinis in the past year than in the rest of my career cumulatively,” says the longtime New York bartender Ben Rojo.
They are “all over the place.” They are “everywhere.” Espresso martinis “have become the Vodka Red Bull of the late 2000s, the Four Loko of the early 2010s.” In New York, “espresso martinis are the new cocaine.” It sounds deranged, but it’s true: Espresso martinis are the must-order drink of 2021. This summer, we finally got our answer: “If you aren’t drinking espresso martinis at a dive bar, you’re not doing it right.” Way back in 2016, Grub Street wondered if this relatively simple drink - invented in London after a model asked for a drink that would, the story goes, “wake her up, then fuck her up” - was poised for a comeback. “One of the guys yelled out, ‘No more! Please! No more espresso martinis!’” “I was a bit sober, watching them, and saw them band together, like We have to do something about this,” Minkovsky says. “Everyone was ordering them - it was chaos.” She remembers being unable to move at the bar, spills and glassware everywhere. “There were a lot of people there doing karaoke in a small space, and it was like a wildfire,” she recalls. And on this particular night, everyone wanted the same drink: an espresso martini. She was at Dr Clark, the Chinatown restaurant that’s become a hit with the downtown art crowd. Sasha Minkovsky, who works at a Manhattan tech start-up, still remembers the night, earlier this summer, when she watched as a single cocktail nearly broke an entire bar staff. Garnish with grated raw cocoa beans.Photo: Kim Patrick P. Shake hard until ice-cold and strain through a tea strainer into a chilled cocktail glass. Add all ingredients to an ice-filled cocktail shaker or a mason jar.
Three Spirit Social Elixir is a great-tasting alcohol alternative and the addition of maple syrup as a sweetener will provide an extra layer of flavor! Garnish with mint leaf.Įnjoy the buzz of espresso without the addition of alcohol with a boozeless faux-tini recipe. Combine all ingredients except the mint leaf into a cocktail shaker and shake with ice.Walton Goggins, the American actor best known for his standout roles in Quentin Tarantino films, co-owns Mulholland Distilling and has created a twist on the espresso martini with additional aromatic spirits that complement the bitterness of the coffee.