Coffee fanatics are notoriously nit-picky. One example of their particular nature is the crema on espresso shots — that light-brown, cloudlike foam that forms over the liquid. It’s silky, pretty to look at, and gives an otherwise powerful drink a bit of aerated levity. And with the boom in popularity of the Espresso Martini, fans of the cocktail have taken on a similar pride in the methodology and presentation behind the drink: a rich, boozy coffee base, topped with a thick layer of frothy foam, and exactly three espresso beans.
This formula is what gave the cocktail its iconic look, and while it’s easy to spot a great Espresso Martini in the wild, replicating that signature layer of foam at home isn’t always as straightforward. That’s why VinePair tapped experienced bartender and Luxardo brand ambassador Laura Newman to share the secret to achieving that stunningly thick layer of froth at your home bar.
Newman admits that if she had to boil it down to just one factor, it would be the amount of ice in the shaker. “A lot of ice cubes — more than you think you need — will have a really positive effect on the amount of foam, like a measurable difference,” Newman says.
The trick is one that elite cocktail institutions leverage for aeration in their drinks: It’s common for craft cocktail bars to dedicate most of their freezer space to trays upon trays of ice cubes to make sure they have enough to shake frothy cocktails throughout a night’s service.
“You need enough ice cubes to fill a large glass in a cocktail tin,” she says. “The idea is that the more surface area you have in a shaker tin of things you’re shaking with, the more froth and texturally rich your drink will be.” The extra surface area helps reinforce the cocktail’s aeration. More ice means the liquid has more edges to ricochet against, incorporating more air along the way.
“You see the same effect with whipped cream and whipped egg whites,” she says. “You could foam egg whites using a paddle mixer attachment, but it’s not going to have the same volume as if you use the whisk attachment. The more the whisk has more points of contact, and the better it aerates.”
The biggest mistake Newman sees her friends make with at-home Espresso Martinis is shaking them with minimal ice, resulting in liquidy concoctions — not necessarily bad, but not the frothy, palate-coating goodness that some drinkers prefer. Another pitfall she notices while hosting consumer demonstrations for Luxardo’s espresso liqueur is people not shaking the cocktail for long enough.
“I see lazy and sad shakes, but I always tell consumers to shake it hard enough that the ice hits both ends of the tin,” Newman adds.
Beyond shaking for enough time with enough ice, Newman’s foremost tip for making an Espresso Martini is using cold brew or cooled-down espresso. Some cocktail purists believe the coffee component must stick to the drink’s name and refuse to use any other form of joe. To them, she cautions that the dilution caused by warm espresso will result in a lackluster cocktail.
“I’m a level two certified sommelier and am trained in blind tasting,” she says. “I can blind taste between one Espresso Martini made with hot espresso versus cold espresso, and the hot one is going to be objectively worse.”
