National Coffee Day Runs on Espresso Martinis Now (2026): The Bottles Behind the Drink Dick Bradsell Built — and 8 to Buy Before September 29
National Coffee Day lands on September 29, and for a growing number of bars it isn't a day for a free drip refill — it's the busiest espresso martini night of the fall. The drink has had an unlikely second life: invented in London in the late 1980s, half-forgotten through the 2000s, and now one of the most-ordered cocktails in the country again, propped up almost entirely by one category most drinkers never think about on its own — coffee liqueur.
The story behind it is worth knowing before you buy a bottle. Bartender Dick Bradsell built the drink at a London bar after a customer — reportedly a model — asked for something that would "wake me up, then f*** me up." He called it a Vodka Espresso; it didn't get the espresso martini name until years later. The build hasn't changed much since: vodka, fresh espresso, coffee liqueur, shaken hard enough to raise a proper crema-colored foam, and finished with three whole coffee beans on top — folklore says they represent health, wealth and happiness, though nobody can name who decided that.
8 bottles for coffee night
Coffee Liqueur Isn't One Thing
Kahlua ($31.99) is the category's default answer for a reason — a rum-based Mexican liqueur made since 1936, sweet, chocolatey and unmistakable in an espresso martini, and the bottle every bar in the country already has behind the well. Tia Maria ($27.99) is its longtime rival, a Jamaican rum-based liqueur built around coffee since 1945, running drier and less syrupy than Kahlua with more of the actual roasted-bean bitterness up front rather than buried under sugar. Side by side in the same drink, the difference is obvious: Kahlua reads as dessert, Tia Maria reads as coffee.
Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur ($32.99) is the bartender's pick for a reason worth explaining: it's made from actual brewed Arabica coffee rather than flavoring, carries a noticeably higher proof than Kahlua or Tia Maria, and skips most of the added sugar — which means an espresso martini built on it tastes like coffee first and dessert second. If you've had a flat, syrupy version of this drink at a bad bar, Mr Black is usually the fix. Copa De Oro ($14.99) sits at the opposite end of the price ladder — a straightforward, budget-friendly Mexican coffee liqueur that does the job in a pitcher of espresso martinis for a crowd without pretending to be anything fancier.
Starbucks Coffee Liqueur ($41.99) leans on brand recognition and a genuinely strong coffee flavor from real Starbucks beans — a reasonable middle ground for anyone who wants the espresso martini's coffee note more forward than Kahlua delivers. Brinley Gold Rum Coffee ($29.99) comes from the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and swaps Kahlua's neutral-leaning base for a more overtly rummy backbone, which nudges the finished drink toward something closer to a spiked iced coffee than a cocktail-bar espresso martini.
Two Shortcuts Worth Knowing About
Three Olives Triple Shot Espresso Vodka ($19.99) isn't a coffee liqueur at all — it's a flavored vodka, which means you can build a coffee-forward drink with one bottle instead of two, though you'll want to add real espresso and a splash of simple syrup to get the foam and balance a true espresso martini needs; vodka alone won't shake up a proper crema. For a genuinely different night, The New York Cocktail Co. Espresso Negroni ($24.99) skips the espresso martini format entirely and bottles a ready-to-drink mashup of two of the last decade's biggest cocktail revivals — Negroni and espresso martini — for anyone who wants the coffee kick without measuring a single ounce.
How to Actually Build One
The formula that made this drink famous hasn't changed: 1.5 oz vodka, 1 oz freshly pulled espresso (or strong cold brew in a pinch), 0.75 oz coffee liqueur, and a 0.25 oz simple syrup if your liqueur runs dry. Shake all of it hard with ice — the vigor is what pulls the foam up through the crema in the espresso, not an egg white or dairy — and strain into a chilled coupe. Drop three coffee beans on top and it's done in under two minutes, which is most of why it took over bar menus this fast.
Batching It for a Crowd
An espresso martini is a genuinely bad drink to build one at a time for a party — nobody wants to be the bartender shaking twelve individual cocktails while a National Coffee Day gathering waits. Scale the 1.5:1:0.75 ratio up by the pitcher (vodka, cooled strong coffee or cold brew standing in for fresh espresso, coffee liqueur), keep it in the fridge, and shake it with ice by the glass as guests arrive rather than batching the ice in — a fully pre-mixed batch loses its foam fast if it sits assembled. A cheaper bottle like Copa De Oro ($14.99) makes more sense as the base for a dozen drinks than a bottle built for sipping solo.
Why This 1980s Drink Won't Go Away
Most cocktail revivals fade back out within a year or two. The espresso martini has now held on for the better part of a decade, and industry drink-trend surveys have repeatedly named it one of the fastest-growing cocktails ordered in the US in recent years — a rare case of a 40-year-old recipe outperforming drinks invented last summer. Part of it is genuinely practical: it works as both an after-dinner drink and a reason to stay out later, doing the job of coffee and a nightcap in one glass. Part of it is that shaking a coffee liqueur hard enough to raise a proper foam photographs well, which never hurts a drink's second life on a menu.
Building modifier-forward drinks is its own small skill — if the espresso martini gets you curious about how the supporting bottle changes a cocktail more than the base spirit does, our vermouth guide for the Manhattan walks through the same idea from the stirred side of the bar. Shop the full lineup in Cordials & Liqueurs and Vodka, or check Ready to Drink for more bottled cocktails like the Espresso Negroni above.
