Coffee Cocktails
Explore 80 Coffee cocktail recipes.
Coffee cocktails do something most other drinks can't — they pull caffeine and alcohol in opposite directions and somehow end up balanced. The Espresso Martini is the headline drink: vodka, fresh espresso, coffee liqueur and a sugar adjustment, shaken hard enough to throw a head of foam, served up. The Mudslide takes the same idea and bends it towards dessert with cream and Irish cream sliding in alongside the coffee.
Espresso Galliano works the espresso-and-herbal-liqueur axis from a different angle, and Shaft is the layered shot version — Kahlúa, vodka, Baileys, cold espresso — built to be drunk in one go. What ties this list together is that the coffee isn't decoration; it's structural. The bitterness of the espresso does the same work that Campari does in a Negroni — it gives the drink somewhere to push against the sweetness.
Most of these reward freshly pulled espresso over the bottled stuff or instant, and most do better at meal's end than as a starter. They're not session drinks; one is usually enough. Shake them properly cold, serve them in a glass that holds heat well, and don't expect a second one to land the same way the first does — the caffeine, the sugar and the alcohol have a way of stacking faster than you'd think.
Our top Coffee cocktail
Coffee Negroni
Gin, Campari, Red vermouth
Top Coffee cocktails
Coffee Cardamom & Orange
Licor de café, Suco de laranja, Vagens de cardamomo
Revolver
Bourbon, Coffee liqueur, Orange bitters, Sugar / simple syrup
Coffee Old Fashioned
Bourbon, Aromatische bitters, Coffee, Maple syrup
Espresso Martini (Stefano D’Orsogna Variation)
Vodka, Coffee liqueur, Sugar / simple syrup, Coffee
Scotty Special
Whiskey, Coffee liqueur, Cream, Milk
Café Blanco
Hornitos Plata, Coffee liqueur, Vanilla syrup, Bittermens Xocolatl Mole, Coffee
Espresso Martini Sammy Junior
Aged rum, Coffee liqueur, Coffee, Coconut water
Espresso Galliano
Galliano, Lemon juice, Coffee, Sugar