"Wake em' up then f*** em' up"-the life of the Espresso Martini

A brief history of Espresso Martinis, Why does Australia love them so much? New health advice on drinking - (yikes), The American Aperol Spritz, Cocktail recipes, and more!

Hello!

Welcome back to another Drink Seco Newsletter! Hope you all had a lovely and delicious Easter!

Don’t forget there’s still time to sign up to Part 2 of the Agave April Class! We had such a fun time last week there’s so much you can do with mezcal and tequila! Make sure not to miss out and sign up here!

This newsletter we’ll be focusing a lot on espresso martinis! The double whammy to wake you up and f*** you up! Before we get into it, I do my due diligence to the pop culture world.

So, what’s happened since we last spoke? Well, the album on repeat for me this week has been boygenius’s new album ‘the record’. Combine three incredible, talented, kickass, queer artists and what do you get? A beautiful, heartbreaking album with a hot music video directed by Kristen Stewart. boygenius- the face of sapphic sad girls everywhere- comprises Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Bakers, and Lucy Dacus, all impressive in their own right. The only thing left to decide is which one I will be invoicing for the emotional damage of this album.

Here’s a little pic of their performance at Coachella, (They also joined MUNA for a song in case you wanted to double the gay girl band energy and spiral into a gay panic). Unfortunately, I can’t insert a clip because Twitter has stopped Substack from being able to embed tweets, booooooo.

In other non-cocktail-related news, I really enjoyed this article in The Atlantic titled ‘The puzzling gap between how old you are and how old you think you are’. Apparently, most people feel 20% younger than their actual age, the article discusses the concept of “subjective age”. An interesting read, and also funny to put some science behind the age-old ‘I’m 25 at heart’ claim.

Without further ado, let’s get into this newsletter!

• A regular glass of wine is good for your health… right?

• On Espresso Martinis

• Recipes!

• Colliding worlds

• The American Aperol Spritz

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A regular glass of wine is good for your health… right?

In other news, unfortunately, for those who thought that having a regular glass of red wine with their easter chocolate was good for you (the general consensus for the past two decades), I’ve got some bad news… According to a new study from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, the new safest/advised amount of alcohol to drink is… none😑😑. This a big change from the previous statements that advised no more than 10 drinks for women and 15 drinks for men per week. Other countries haven’t come out as strongly as Canada, the US has said “Drinking less is better for health than drinking more”… no shit Sherlock. Obviously, there are personal risk factors and extenuating circumstances but it’s clear the global consensus around drinking is changing.

Once again, it’s interesting to look at how this plays out in different countries, here in the US the legal drinking age is 21, compared with the UK/Australia (and most of the world) which is 18. And then there are countries like Germany and Denmark which are 16. Despite this, the general age for kids to have their first drink across all these countries is 14-16 years old.

Add to this the different types of drinks people countries consume and their drinking habits (think binge drinking compared to wine with a meal), all created a really varied picture of drinking habits, despite what we seem to think as international drinking norms of cocktails and wine.

Gen Z for one, are definitely following the new advice (intentionally or not), drinking 20% less per capita than their millennial counterparts, this trend continues going through the generations. Next newsletter I’m going to look more into the Non-alcoholic Cocktail Revolution so keep an eye out! There are a lot of exciting things happening in that space!

On Espresso Martinis:

Espresso martinis have a rich history that dates back to the 1980s. The cocktail was first created by a London bartender who wanted to create a drink that would "wake people up, then f*** them up." Since then, it has become a staple in bars and restaurants around the world.

Today, espresso martinis are more popular than ever, with many people seeking out the complex flavors and caffeine kick that they provide. To make the best espresso martini, I’d break up the coffee-forward cocktail into two categories - the first being the fresher, typically made with Kahlua as the coffee liqueur modifier, and the other being the creamier version made with baileys.  

Kahlua is a Mexican coffee liqueur that is thicker in texture and bolder in flavor, playing up notes of intense coffee with a hazelnut and vanilla aftertaste. Baileys, on the other hand, is creamy, sweet, and light. Baileys has a silky texture and a flavor of coffee, chocolate, and Irish cream. The cream aspect is what can take an espresso martini in a totally different direction.

As most folks are leaning into the pre-dinner espresso martini, (an aperitif-style cocktail) I prefer to stick to the Kahlua, or similar liqueurs, as I like to avoid the cream, which in cocktail theory, would start leaning more towards a flip-style cocktail. Kahlua is a great product, but there are so many local and imported cream-less coffee-based liqueurs now, all with different flavor profiles. 

All espresso martinis contain some form of made-to-order espresso or more likely today, cold brew coffee. Typically, a pulled-to-order shot of espresso is going to provide more intense acidity and tannin, while the cold brew will add softness and a smoother, more rounded mouthfeel. Another option here is a coffee concentrate, which I can also highly recommend!

All contemporary classic recipes contain unflavored vodka at the base, presumptuously because this cocktail is called an espresso 'martini' and was created in the 1980s when vodka was the popular choice in a martini. Without getting too far down the rabbit hole of how this really isn't a martini by definition according to cocktail theory, it IS a lovely cocktail a much better alternative to the other upper-downer party drink -aka- the vodka-redbull.

When choosing a vodka, there are a few choices to make, but I urge one to not overthink the choice of vodka too much. So long as you are choosing a quality spirit that is flavorless and odorless, you're doing it right! You can, of course, make the choice here to flavor your vodka with coffee beans, although that may read a bit redundant. You could also choose to infuse your vodka with flavors that pair well with coffee, such as toffee, chocolate, vanilla bean, honey, fruits, spices, etc. Barr Hill vodka is a very fun play here!

Alternatively, you could replace the vodka altogether and replace it with any other spirit, such as a spiced or dark rum, a grassy-forward tequila, a sweet corn-based whiskey, an aromatic cachaça, or even a peaty scotch. It all depends on your balance of ingredients and build.

For your last possible addition, you can add a flavored syrup (like a fresh vanilla bean), an amaro, an aperitif, a fruity liqueur, or even try out a split base with your main basic spirit.

It’s your lucky day and I’m giving you 4 of my variations and Espresso Martini recipes!

As simple as it gets: At the core, an espresso martini is an equal part cocktail of vodka, coffee, and coffee liqueur, or modified for double to vodka. Here is an example and a good measure for a comparative cocktail. 

• 1 oz Vodka

• 1 oz Kahlua 

• 1 oz Espresso

Method: Add vodka, Kahlúa, and espresso to a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with coffee beans.

You could also play around with flavors and proportions a bit like this, leaning into classic coffee-adjacent flavors! Here’s something fun to try out:

• 0. 75 oz vodka

• 0.75 oz vanilla bean syrup

• 0.75 oz coffee concentrate (or cold brew coffee)

• 0.75 oz st. George nola coffee liqueur

Or make it floral or fruity:

• 0.75 oz Barr Hill Vodka

• 0.75 oz st. george nola coffee liqueur

• 0.75 oz cold brew coffee

• 0.5 oz honey syrup

• 0.5 St Germain

Lastly, you could head in the opposite direction and lean into the bitter. I love this one:

• 0.75 oz vodka

• 0. 75 oz Cynar

• 0.75 oz coffee concentrate

• 0.75 oz st. george nola coffee liqueur

And for those wondering, I recommend a little Donna Summer to accompany your espresso martini drinking because god knows you’ll be buzzing and ready to boogie. Hot stuff alright!

Let’s finish up this section with none other than every mom’s heartthrob and the face of espresso himself:

Colliding worlds:

Espresso Martinis have an interesting reputation, where they were arguably once one of those cocktails, infamously unpopular with bartenders, they now represent a colliding love of espresso and booze. In Australia, they reign supreme as a national favorite cocktail. In some ways, this really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Australians love their coffee to an obsessive amount and will not miss an opportunity to declare themselves coffee snobs and preach the world of Australian coffee. In Australia, baristas are as close as you’ll get to royalty, and if you’re not on first names basis with at least 3 local cafes, you’re doing it wrong. To be fair they did win World’s Best Barista last year, so there is some reasoning behind their madness.

It is one of the few places where the beans in your espresso martini are just as important as the alcohol. Punch Drink Mag described its unlikely longevity there as a “symptom of Australia’s ongoing love affair with espresso”.

Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay.

The American Aperol Spritz:

Finally, in the upcoming newsletters I’m going to talk about the changing nature of the cocktail world in the face of TikTok virality, so consider this a little snippet of what’s to come, when I saw #dietcokagne trending I couldn’t resist. For this, we have Tom Hanks to blame, he revealed on The Late Show that he recently tried combining Coke and Champagne (it’s giving Brooklyn Beckham “I’m a nutter in the kitchen vibes’ iykyk).

Colbert described the drink (sadly kind of accurately) saying “It’s so refreshing – it’s like an American Aperol Spritz!”. Now #dietcokage has over 13.2 million views on TikTok. 

I have no further comments on this Diet Coke/ Champagne trend- maybe Gen Z has the no-drinking thing right… Anyways, more on this next newsletter!

For now, I’ll leave you with this little New Yorker Aperol Comic:

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That’s all for this week! Enjoy the rest of the week!

Remember to subscribe, share, comment, and like these posts to spread the word and cocktail joy!

Don’t forget to get in quickly and sign up for the last Agave virtual class too!

Carlie x

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