“It’s a transitional drink,” says Tristan Willey, co-founder of Good Vodka, of the Espresso Martini. This is true of all coffee cocktails, whether that transition is from day to night with that monster of a drink, or, as the seasons change, from refreshing, warm-weather coffee cocktails to warming one’s hands with a steaming cup of espresso-based Livorno Punch.
There is more than one way to caffeinate your cocktail. Here are our favorites.
For the most potent dose of fresh coffee flavor, turn to espresso. The Espresso Martini is an obvious choice to feature the brew; while modern recipes call for cold brew or flavored liqueur, all three of our favorite recipes in a tasting of several versions stuck with espresso.
For the easiest espresso-plus-booze combinations, turn to the caffeinated cocktails of history. There’s the Mexico City party drink that hails from the 19th century, the carajillo, made by pouring espresso and the Licor 43 over ice. And even before that, there was the 17th-century protococktail from Italy, Livorno Punch, a steamy combination of espresso, spiced rum, sugar and a lemon twist.
Carajillo
Fresh, hot espresso and Licor 43 make up Mexico City’s party drink.
Livorno Punch
Italy’s very own punch, which swaps tea for espresso (naturally).
At your home bar, this is probably what’s most readily available. Again, check out the classics: You’re likely familiar with Irish Coffee and Spanish Coffee, which are always welcome this time of year. Consider some lesser-known drinks, too, like Southern California’s Keoke Coffee.
Spanish Coffee
The drink popularized at Huber’s Café is prepared by torching rum in a sugar-rimmed glass.
Keoke Coffee
A 1960s caffeinated classic, revamped with a brandy base.
Of the coffee liqueur cocktails, the White Russian is perhaps the most well known. But the ingredient figures into countless other original drinks that benefit from its bittersweet flavor. Alicia Perry’s T Stagg Slide, for example, adds it to the Mudslide template, while Richie Boccato’s Coffee House pairs it with rye and orange bitters in an Old-Fashioned-like drink. In tropical cocktails like the Tiger’s Claw, coffee liqueur offers a bracing backbone under layers of flavor. Ireland’s Baby Guinness takes a simpler approach: just two ingredients layered together to mirror the iconic stout.
T Stagg Slide
A Mudslide-inspired bourbon cocktail finished with a dusting of cinnamon and espresso.
Baby Guinness
Ireland’s caffeinated shot pays tribute to the stout.
Unlike traditional coffee or espresso, cold brew is, well, cold, and its smooth, lightly sweet flavor works in drinks well beyond the hot classics. Tropical and tiki-style cocktails, with their fruity and spiced profile, complement the ingredient particularly well. At Cindy’s in Chicago, for example, the Roman Holiday, a Jungle Bird riff, adds a splash of cold brew to echo the caramel notes of Amaro Meletti. In the Wipeout, from Death & Co.’s Tyson Buhler, amplified coffee flavor (thanks to cold-brew concentrate) stands up against a trio of rums and strikes a balance with the brighter, acidic pineapple and lemon in the drink.
Cold brew also fits well into aperitif and digestif cocktails: Anthony Schmidt’s Kold Brew Americano pairs it with Campari, while the El Duque, from Miami bar Twenty Seven, uses it in a Manhattan-style format, combining it with rum and sherry in an ideal after-dinner drink.
Roman Holiday
This Jungle Bird omits rum altogether, focusing on amari and cold-brew coffee instead.
Wipeout
This tropical-style drink combines a blend of rums with pineapple juice and cold-brew concentrate.
Many coffee cocktails are flexible, intended for personalizing to your own preferences. The caffè corretto, for example, is less a recipe and more an invitation to simply throw together espresso and spirit, whether the base is aromatic grappa, saffron-accented Strega or minty Fernet-Branca. If the latter, amaro-based coffee drink sounds best, you might also try this quick infusion method, which combines amaro with coffee grounds and herbs in a moka pot. Different botanicals alter the drink in different ways, so just a few tweaks can yield a broad range of digestivi.
For the absolute easiest way to caffeinate a cocktail, though, turn to an à la minute bartending hack to wake up an Old-Fashioned or a Negroni. Stirring in, then straining out, a few whole beans—preferably dark roast, for the most oiliness—adds a subtle hint of coffee flavor to drinks. Use the method in cocktails with sweet vermouth or sherry, where the beans’ bitter, chocolatey flavor adds nuance to the sweeter elements. With this technique, and when using coffee in general, experimentation is key; there’s not really a wrong way to use it. As Paris bartender Nico de Soto, who regularly employs the method, explains: “Coffee goes with everything.”
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