Salted Caramel Espresso Martini

A dessert-worthy espresso martini with rich salted caramel and bold coffee flavors.

The Espresso Martini was created in London in the mid-1980s by bartender Dick Bradsell, initially called the Vodka Espresso, at the Soho Brasserie on Old Compton Street. Bradsell mixed vodka with fresh espresso from a newly installed coffee machine at the bar, adding sugar syrup to bind the flavors — creating a drink he described as sitting in the tradition of dessert cocktails like the Brandy Alexander, where two very different flavors are bridged by careful use of modifiers. The drink was renamed the Espresso Martini by the late 1990s, taking its name from the V-shaped cocktail glass it was served in rather than from any true martini lineage. The Salted Caramel Espresso Martini emerged as a natural variation once the original cocktail entered the mainstream: the sweet-salty combination that had become ubiquitous in caramel confectionery during the 2000s and 2010s translated seamlessly into the coffee cocktail format. Salted caramel syrup or sauce is dissolved into the espresso before shaking, adding a rich, toffee-like sweetness that softens the bitterness of the coffee while the salt amplifies every other flavor in the glass. The variation sits firmly in the dessert cocktail category — best served as an after-dinner drink or alongside chocolate — and has become one of the most ordered espresso martini riffs in contemporary bars. The salted caramel combination works particularly well with coffee liqueurs that carry vanilla or brown sugar notes, such as Baileys Espresso Crème or Mr Black.