Espresso Martini: history, recipe and where to drink it in Bologna

Some cocktails are born from long experiments, others from a single sentence. The Espresso Martini belongs to the second kind, and the sentence became legend.

London, the 1980s

The canonical story goes that in the mid-eighties, at London’s Soho Brasserie, a young model asked bartender Dick Bradsell for something that would “wake her up and mess her up” at the same time — the original wording was considerably more colourful. Bradsell had the espresso machine right next to his station: he put together vodka, freshly pulled espresso and coffee liqueur, shook, and served.

The first version was called the Vodka Espresso. The “Espresso Martini” name arrived in the nineties, when anything served in a coupe in London became a “something-Martini”. It has nothing of the classic Martini — no gin, no vermouth — but the name stuck.

Why it works

The Espresso Martini balances three forces: the bitterness of coffee, the push of vodka, the roundness of the liqueur. The technical secret is the crema: the espresso must be pulled to order and shaken immediately, because it’s the oils and crema of hot coffee, beaten against ice, that build the dense foam holding those three beans.

A half-hour-old espresso makes a flat drink. That’s why a well-made Espresso Martini announces itself at first glance, before the first sip.

Where to drink it in Bologna

At Jimmy’s counter, Via Petroni 32/c — university area, two minutes from Piazza Verdi — the Espresso Martini is one of the most ordered drinks of the night’s second half: espresso pulled to order, double strain, chilled coupe. You’ll find it in the menu with photo, ingredients and price, alongside the rest of the vodka family.

And if this is your genre, ask the cocktail lab about its coffee twists: a wall of 500+ bottles offers more than one road to the same wake-up call.