Classic Espresso Martini Recipe (The Exact Bar Spec)

The espresso martini is a fussy drink made from a simple list: vodka, coffee liqueur, fresh espresso, sugar. Every failed version — thin, flat, watery, cloying — is a technique problem, not an ingredient problem. This is the spec most good bars pour, and the technique that makes it work at home.

The spec

2 oz vodka · 1 oz coffee liqueur · 1 oz fresh espresso · 1/4 oz simple syrup. Shaken hard with ice for 15 seconds, double-strained into a chilled coupe, garnished with three beans. That 2:1:1 ratio — plus a quarter-ounce of syrup — descends directly from Dick Bradsell’s 1983 original at London’s Soho Brasserie (the full story involves a young model and a famously blunt request).

One adjustment matters: if your liqueur is Kahlúa or similarly sweet, halve the syrup. The liqueur you choose is the biggest flavor decision in the drink.

Step by step

1. Chill the glass. Freezer, 10 minutes. A warm glass kills foam on contact.
2. Pull the espresso fresh. The foam comes from oils and proteins in a fresh shot; coffee pulled an hour ago won’t foam. No machine? A moka pot or AeroPress works — full methods here. Bean choice matters too: what to use.
3. Load the shaker two-thirds with fresh ice, add everything.
4. Shake violently for 15 seconds. This is the step people undercook. The shake chills, dilutes and aerates simultaneously — a polite shake gives a flat drink. A proper shaker with a good seal lets you go hard without leaking.
5. Double-strain immediately — Hawthorne strainer plus fine mesh — into the chilled glass. The fine strainer removes ice shards that would break up the foam.
6. Wait 30 seconds, garnish. The foam separates and settles into the signature layer. Three beans on top: here’s why three.

Getting it right, drink after drink

The full science of the foam — why fresh espresso foams and old coffee doesn’t, and the dry-shake rescue when it fails — is in our foam guide. Nutrition-wise, this spec lands around 240 calories and 100–130mg caffeine; see the calorie and caffeine breakdowns.

Once the classic is dialed in, branch out: the gin, tequila and Baileys variations each change one decision, and the batch recipe scales tonight’s spec to a party. If you’d rather unwrap it all in one box, start with our kit rankings.