Black Gold: Explaining the Success of the Espresso Martini

You may have heard of other coffee-laced drinks— White Russian, Irish Coffee, even the Carajillo— but chances are if you’ve been in a cocktail bar in the last year, the espresso martini has been where booze and caffeine meet on the menu. Originated in the late 1980s, the buzzy martini has made a few comebacks in its lifetime. But why now, and how to explain its reign over other caffeinated cocktails?

After making its way onto the list of the top 10 cocktails served on-premise in 2022, orders for the espresso martini nearly doubled in velocity by mid-2023, earning quarterly growth of 11% and overtaking Long Island Iced Tea to become the sixth most popular cocktail, according to NIQ CGA’s cocktail tracker. Heading into 2024, the cocktail is still on-trend: it grew by 50% during the 12-month period ending September 30, 2023, right at the heels of the Old Fashioned, according to Union’s OnPrem Insights which gathers data from over 1,000 high volume accounts using the POS platforms at bars and restaurants.

But it’s not just bar goers. The fastest-growing subcategories compared to 2022 on Drizly were ready-to-drink (RTD) martinis, driven by the rise in RTD espresso martinis. Overall across off-premise, espresso martini RTDs were up 252% in dollar sales for the latest 52 weeks ending December 30, 2023 versus the previous year, according to NIQ data. In comparison, cold brew cocktail styles were up 13.9% and coffee and cream cocktails were down 79%.

More RTD brands have been getting in on the trend: the number of prepared espresso cocktail UPCs rose by 180% at the beginning of 2023 compared to the same time the year prior. Post Meridiem’s Espresso Martini, launched in 2022, is one of them. The SKU just overtook the brand’s Cosmopolitan as a top-three variety. That may be due to timing: the espresso martini re-emerged when drinkers were beginning to go out post-pandemic.

“The espresso martini is the Millennial Red Bull and vodka,” said Andrew Rodbell,

co-founder of Post Meridiem. “It’s a more natural way to get a boost while drinking alcohol and aligns with their love of coffee culture.”

With its elegant, Instagram-ready presentation, the espresso martini has indeed become a go-to upper— and a platform for showcasing a shift in coffee and cocktail culture.

The Nexus of Coffee and Cocktails

When the espresso martini was born, U.S. coffee culture was still in its first wave, with Starbucks slowly leading the charge into the next era of flavored coffee drinks (the Frappuccino!) and inspiring consumers to care about where their coffee was coming from. The third wave flood of barista art, home coffee equipment, and independent roasters gave restaurants— and mixologists — more local and specialty coffee to play with, pleasing both the coffee and craft cocktail connoisseur.

“The market has witnessed a remarkable shift, with consumers becoming more discerning about their drink ingredients,” said Tony Abou Ganim, mixologist, author and co-founder of the TAG Global Spirits awards.

Now in the fourth wave, as companies bring coffee to the masses in pods, capsules and RTD products, the availability of coffee liqueurs can be included in that mass-scaling of high-quality coffee beverages. The landscape for coffee cocktails has been transformed by espresso liqueurs like St. George Spirits NOLA Coffee Liqueur and Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, Ganim said.

After “flying the flag for the cocktail” for over ten years, according to founder Tom Baker, Mr Black was acquired by Diageo in 2022, and the Australian liqueur brand has expanded into nationwide distribution in the U.S. with the goal to win the espresso martini in bars.

The availability of coffee-based spirits also coincides with the rise of other premium ingredients, such as the spirits catching up to vodka’s popularity. The ability to swap out vodka for tequila, gin, rum, or whiskey, makes the espresso martini one of the more popular cocktails taught by Willow Sprague and Jess Blakley, founders of the mobile cocktail class BarBees Bartending.

“The versatility of an espresso martini is what’s given it an edge over other coffee-based cocktails,” said Blakley.

Non-perishable ingredients and the availability of cold brew concentrate, for example, also make it an easy at-home cocktail to whip up, she added.

The Rise of The Martini

But the espresso martini is more than just a “hard coffee” drink or the Red Bull vodka, it’s the new classy version of a party drink, added Gary Ross, chief growth officer at Union.

“Compared to the espresso martini, other coffee cocktails just don’t appear as elegant because they aren’t in a martini glass and look more like a brunch drink,” he said.

Mixologists and brands are also able to get creative with the presentation, from the Parmesan-sprinkled version taking over bars to a limited-edition Gold Espresso Glitter Bomb from Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila.

The rise is also fueled by an overall boost in martini interest. The cocktail is seeing growth at all the bars and restaurants Union works with, reaching a growth rate of more than 10% for basic martinis and a bump in the lemon drop martini, pornstar martini, and even a small resurgence for the appletini. Last year, the martini and Moscow mule were fighting for second highest selling cocktail on-premise, according to NIQ’s CGA.

Off-premise, sales were up 10.3% and 8.6% for prepared vodka and gin martinis respectively in the 52 weeks ending December 30, 2023, according to NIQ data. In 2023, martinis made up just 0.8% of total RTD cocktail share on Drizly, but have experienced 300% growth compared to the same period in 2022.

How Long Will The Buzz Go?

Will the espresso martini earn a permanent top cocktail spot like the straight-up martini, or will it be a passing fad? The coffee will stay, but the format might change, according to Ganim.

“Given coffee’s enduring popularity and its unmatched versatility in mixology, the fascination with coffee-based drinks is here to stay,” he said, but added that he expects the drink to usher in the emergence of other less known coffee-infused drinks like Coffee Old Fashioned or Coffee Negroni. The Carajillo, a simple cocktail from Mexico that is traditionally made from espresso and a Spanish liqueur called Licor 43, has already been making foodie headlines since last year.

The founders of BarBees Bartending argue that the espresso martini has more runway still, and expect more complex iterations of espresso martinis on cocktail menus, rather than a branch-out to brand new coffee cocktails.

There’s another trend that could give it potential for longevity too, they say.

“We’d like to see more zero-proof espresso martini ingredients—making this cocktail without alcohol can be a challenge, especially when searching for a coffee liqueur replacement,” said Sprague.

In the meantime, Rodbell, Post Meridian’s co-founder, is seeing potential beyond the on-premise for his canned cocktail, predicting that more on-premise venues will want an effortless, fast-service alternative that tastes bar made.

“We do have on-premise accounts that feature our espresso martini without sharing that the drink originated in a can, but I don’t want to name names,” he said.