Solo

Espresso Martini's are MASSIVELY popular right now - my wife in particular loves them. But they are a bit of a pain to make as you need to make a shot of espresso in your machine of choice and chill it as quickly as you can, otherwise the ice in the shaker melts too fast and you end up with a watery cocktail. For a while I was running my Nespresso too long as well, and the end result continually tasted as though it was too diluted.

The trouble is, making cold brew coffee in advance drastically reduces the oils within the drink that when made hot provide a rich mouthfeel along with an earthy character - and those oils are also what provides that lovely crema on top of the Martini. Too many cold brew coffee options still result in a diluted cocktail ingredient, sadly.

Until now. Solo has been developed by a group of bartenders and coffee experts specifically with the Espresso Martini in mind, resulting in a 1 litre Tetrapak carton with the equivalent of 20 double shots of Espresso. On it's own it's incredibly intense, but it does exactly what it needs to - the silky mouthfeel is there, and once you add vodka and a touch of sugar syrup, you've got all you need for a stunning cocktail that ticks every box, including that lovely frothy to. You don't even need to faff around with a coffee liqueur if you don't want to - Solo, vodka and some kind of syrup will absolutely work.

I heartily recommend pairing this with Mermaid Sea Salt Vodka as well - the salty tang partners perfectly with the earthy notes of the coffee.