Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini Recipe
Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini Ingredients
1.5 oz / 45 ml Bourbon (I used Old Forge, from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee)
.5 oz / 15 ml Mr. Black coffee liqueur
.75 oz / 22 ml Pumpkin spice syrup
1 oz / 30 ml Espresso, freshly brewed
3 coffee beans for garnish
How to make a Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini
Add the bourbon, Mr. Black, pumpkin spice syrup, and espresso to a shaker with two or three one-inch ice cubes.
Shake harder and longer than feels reasonable. The foam on an espresso martini comes from the crema, and force is the only way to build it.
Strain into a chilled martini glass or coupe.
Garnish with three coffee beans. Tradition says they stand for health, wealth, and happiness.
For the vanilla vodka version: 2 oz vanilla vodka, 1 oz espresso, .5 oz Mr. Black, .5 oz pumpkin spice syrup, and an optional .5 oz of cream. Same shake, same glass.
An espresso martini almost always uses vodka, and after making this one three ways, my honest advice is that bourbon is the better base. Vodka's whole job is to stay out of the way. Bourbon brings caramel and oak that belong next to coffee, and with no cream in the build, what you get is a real espresso martini that happens to taste like fall rather than a dessert wearing a martini glass. I used Old Forge, a local product from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, but any bourbon you already like will do the job.
The pumpkin spice comes from the syrup, and it is worth making your own: take your usual simple syrup recipe and add fall baking spices and a spoonful of pumpkin pie filling while it heats. Store-bought pumpkin spice syrup works fine if you would rather not bother. Two variations from the same session: swapping the base for two ounces of homemade vanilla vodka makes the spices stand out more, since vodka brings less of its own flavor, and adding half an ounce of cream to that version pushes it toward the latte crowd. And if you want the version with no syrup at all, our RumChata pumpkin pie martini gets its spice entirely from the bottle. Same technique, stranger coffee: the Waffle House espresso martini.
