An espresso martini. Photo AlphaLemur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. No free photograph of Dick Bradsell is on Commons.
The espresso martini
What it took directly
- statedThe Vodka Espresso took from the coffee machine beside Dick Bradsell's station at the Soho Brasserie"The coffee machine at the Soho Brasserie was right next to the station where I served drinks. It was a nightmare, as coffee grounds were everywhere, so coffee was very much on my mind." Dick Bradsell, to Simon Difford (Difford's Guide) — his own account
- statedThe Vodka Espresso took from vodka, the spirit everyone was ordering"And it was all about vodka back then - it was all people were drinking." Dick Bradsell, to Simon Difford (Difford's Guide) — his own account
- documentedThe espresso martini comes from Dick Bradsell's Vodka Espresso, made on the rocks around 1983 at the Soho Brasserie on Old Compton Street, London"The cocktail we know today as the Espresso Martini started life as the far more fittingly titled Vodka Espresso, served on-the-rocks. Created circa 1983 by the legendary bartender Dick Bradsell at the Soho Brasserie on Old Compton Street, London" Simon Difford, Difford's Guide — built on Bradsell's own telling
- documentedThe espresso martini comes from Dick Bradsell's days at The Zanzibar club, about 1981 or 1982 — by Sophie Parkin's account"From my point of view, Dick invented this cocktail in about 1981 or 1982. I got him a job working at The Zanzibar on Great Queen Street in Covent Garden" Sophie Parkin, who got Bradsell that job, to Thomas Barrie, British GQ (2020)
- documentedThe espresso martini's Martini glass took from Vasco, a fellow bartender at Match bar on London's Clerkenwell Road, in 1997"Hence, in 1997, when Dick was working at Match bar on London's Clerkenwell Road, a fellow bartender named Vasco (who Dick referred to as the "Portuguese sea captain") served Dick's Vodka Espresso straight-up in a Martini glass." Simon Difford, Difford's Guide
What it learned to do
- statedThe straight-up espresso martini learned from the Brandy Alexander's ratio"it needed adjustment. I used the ratio behind the Brandy Alexander as a template (espresso to vodka with 3 flavours in between)." Dick Bradsell, quoted by Simon Difford (Difford's Guide)
- statedDick Bradsell learned from Ray Cook and Pat Hassan, during four years at the Zanzibar Club"Then I trained as a chef, then finally as a cocktail bartender with a four year stint at the Zanzibar Club under Ray Cook and Pat Hassan." Dick Bradsell, CLASS magazine interview (1998), reproduced by Difford's Guide
- statedDick Bradsell learned from The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks and its description of a perfect Daiquiri"especially after having read a description of Constantin Ribulga making a Daiquiri perfectly in the Fine Art of Mixing Drinks." Dick Bradsell, writing in CLASS magazine (2001), reproduced by Difford's Guide
- inferredThe espresso martini learned from the exactness Bradsell said the Daiquiri taught him"The lessons I learnt on the way. The need for exactness, the strive for perfection, the necessity of quality, the role of authenticity" inferred — Bradsell wrote this of his years perfecting the Daiquiri (CLASS magazine, 2001), not of the espresso martini
- documentedMelbourne's espresso martini learned from UK bartenders on working holiday visas"Once in Australia – the Melbourne bartender Fred Siggins suggests that it arrived via UK bartenders on working holiday visas – the espresso martini found a spiritual home in coffee-loving Melbourne." Melbourne bartender Fred Siggins's suggestion, reported by Chad Parkhill, the Guardian (2016)
The tradition it sits in
- documentedThe espresso martini's name comes from the mid-1990s habit of calling anything in a V-shaped glass a “Martini”"It didn’t actually start as an Espresso Martini. There came a point, somewhere in the mid-1990s, when anything that was in a V-shaped glass became a “Martini”. It actually started as a Vodka Espresso and went from that to the Espresso Martini." Simon Difford, to Thomas Barrie, British GQ (2020)
- documentedThe espresso martini's garnish of three coffee beans comes from sambuca served con la mosca in Italy"The floating of three beans comes from the traditional serving of sambuca in Italy, where the floating beans are called con la mosca, meaning 'with the fly'." Simon Difford, Difford's Guide
Where the whole form comes from
- documentedThe espresso martini comes from American cocktail culture and European coffee culture arriving in London at the same time"the cocktail would go from being a niche creation enjoyed by Bradsell and his confidants to become the mascot of London bars and members’ clubs, as American cocktail and European coffee culture took root in the capital simultaneously." Thomas Barrie, British GQ (2020)
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