Caffeine & Alcohol….

Let’s forget ‘coffee and cake’, latte art and brew methods let’s get to a subject that everybody wants to know about “ How do I take 2 of my favourite vices and combine them into 1 ‘mother’ of all vices?”  We are talking, of course, about caffeine and alcohol. So what is the best way to bring the 2 together, in a symphony of slurred speech and jitteriness.

Before I continue, I want to demonstrate that I have done my research into this subject and what I have found isn’t necessarily positive! Apparently, pairing alcohol and caffeine isn’t a good thing …..

According to Dr. Steven Lipshultz, chief of pediatrics at the University of Miami medical school:

“Amongst some users, there’s a higher incidence of risk-taking behaviors because their perceptions of their limitations are distorted”

“caffeine appears to override the natural sleepiness that occurs when someone drinks alcohol. It also delays the feeling of drunkenness, so those who drink an alcoholic caffeine drink are likely to keep drinking beyond their normal limits.”

Although, some of the things listed above might not always be negative. Take your dinner party situation; you’ve drank plenty, ate plenty and now you are sleepy but you and your friends haven’t seen each other for ages, you don’t want the evening to end just yet. Let’s introduce a caffeine and alcohol potion to drag everybody out of the temporary slumber and delay those ‘feelings of drunkeness’. BOOM party is back on track!

Here we go…

You’ve had the ‘Irish coffee’ before – but this is a bit old hat. The following recipe is for a cold, cool, sophisticated, intoxicating Vodka Espresso Martini

Ingredients for 1 drink

25ml Vodka

25ml Kahlua

1 shot of (Sunset) espresso

Lots of ice

3 Stewarts of Trent Bridge coffee beans

Ideal equipment list –

Cocktail shaker

Martini glass

Strainer

Espresso Machine

(I will give some suggestions at the end if you don’t have all of the equipment)

In your cocktail shaker, add the vodka, kahlua, espresso shot (freshly pulled from your machine) and finally fill the shaker with ice. Put the lid on your shaker and shake your hearts out. A bartenders saying is “shake it to wake it, don’t rock it to sleep”

espresso martini 1

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espresso martini 2

When the shaker feels ice cold, strain the contents into a martini glass leaving the ice inside you shaker to be discarded. You should have a dark brown liquid slowly separating in the glass with a gorgeous froth developing on the surface. Finish off with a garnish of three coffee beans sitting on top.

espresso martini 3

Points to perfect your method

Use plenty of ice to chill the ingredients rapidly meaning a less diluted drink

Double up the ingredients, maybe triple depending on size of shaker to make more drinks in one go, but remember you need to fit in plenty of ice.

If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, allow your espresso shot to cool a little and add all your ingredients directly to a tumbler glass packed with ice and give a stir to help cooling and serve as is.

Play around with the recipe, ie use a flavoured vodka – Vanilla vodka works very well.

And one last things ‘Drink responsibly folks’.

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