With vodka as his canvas, Bradsell combined the spirit with two types of coffee liqueur, Kahlua and Tia Maria, and a strong, short-pull espresso, or ristretto. A well-known actress was said to ask Bradsell to make a drink that would “wake me up, and fuck me up.”

The Espresso Martini is said to have been created in 1983 at the Soho Brasserie. In an era when Tom Cruise earned fame as a bottle-flipping master of the Alabama Slammer, Bradsell was known for crafting tight, well-balanced drinks where every ingredient mattered-a precursor to today’s modern mixology scene. A handful of his more famous creations include the Bramble (gin, lemon, crème de mûre), the Treacle (dark rum, simple syrup, bitters, apple juice) and the Green Fairy (absinthe, lemon, bitters, egg white). Rather, it is the creation of the modern cocktail legend Dick Bradsell, a London-based bartender credited with numerous innovations from the 1980s through the 2000s. It may be a surprise that the Espresso Martini didn’t originate from the menu of a fast-casual restaurant hidden away in a strip mall. It evolved from an elegant, upgraded coffee to something more akin to a milkshake, but the classic black Espresso Martini remains a delicious choice for those who seek a pick-me-up while they wind down.

The Espresso Martini, like many cocktails that rose to prominence during the 1980s and ’90s, gained a somewhat bad reputation after decades of abuse.

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Craft expresso recipes