Maybe it’s the thick foam on top, or perhaps the sweet kick of caffeine, but the espresso martini has exploded in popularity in recent years. And don’t expect the trend to go away any time soon. At the end of 2023, the espresso martini was the fourth most popular cocktail in the US. In an age when cocktail enthusiasts are experimenting more with making drinks at home largely due to higher prices at bars, sourcing good ingredients becomes a priority. So for a coffee-based cocktail, the question becomes, what’s the best coffee to use?
Chris Leavitt, whose pseudonym is ‘Not Just a Bartender’ on his cocktail-crazed social media accounts, is a Las Vegas-based bartender who is hoping to make that sourcing process a little easier for everyday consumers. “Even if it’s a simple drink, just using high-quality ingredients matters,” he says. “Elevation comes with details.” This philosophy led Leavitt to partner with the quirky coffee roasting company, Roasty Buds, to source beans that he, given his years of making countless espresso martinis, feels is exactly the roast needed to achieve its maximum potential. The Bartender’s Espresso Blend from Not Just a Bartender x Roasty Buds Coffee Co. is a blend of premium beans sourced from Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
The Primary Features Of The Bartender’s Espresso Blend
Leavitt primarily searched for two qualities in the roast for his ultimate bartender’s blend. The first: a medium roast. “That always gets a better crema,” Leavitt says, comparing it to a dark roast. “The oils that are in the [dark roast] coffee bean I’ve noticed don’t get a really nice crema.” That crema assists in producing a nice foam at the surface, one of the premier features, aesthetically and texturally, of an espresso martini. “Mouthfeel wise, when you shake an espresso that’s done well…you add this body, this texture that’s a little bit more lush and decadent, but not in an overbearing way. “
Taste-wise, he says, a dark roast would be more bitter, whereas a medium roast is “just a little bit more delicate and it mingles well with other ingredients, whether you decide to make one with vodka, rum, whiskey, or tequila.”
The other quality Leavitt aimed for was the roast’s tasting notes: dark chocolate and caramel. That’s largely because these flavors would balance well with the sweeteners used in the coffee liqueurs, of which Kahlua (Mexican, rum-based) and Mr. Black (Australian, vodka-based) are the most common. “Some espressos can just be pretty singular,” Leavitt says. “I was looking for a certain hop of flavor and when I had the one that we picked, a light bulb went off and it was just everything that I was looking for.”
The Partnership
Austin-based Roasty Buds is an experimental coffee brand known for its natural oil-tossed flavors like Mexican Chocolate and Cherry Glazed Smoked BBQ, so it comes as little surprise that it manifested a partnership with a forward-thinking bartender like Leavitt. “I really trusted his palette,” says co-founder Louis Montemayor. “I feel like a lot of cocktail people are also coffee people.”
The intention behind choosing the Bartender’s Blend is to pair well with a range of coffee cocktails, not just the espresso martini, whether it be a sweet cocktail or something more spirit-forward. “I want it to taste good with any version of a coffee cocktail that could possibly be done,” says Montemayor. One of Leavitt’s favorites is the Carajillo, a Mexican/Cuban cocktail containing Licor 43, an herbal liqueur primarily with a vanilla flavor.
Applying The Espresso To Your Cocktail
What’s important to consider when making a cocktail with the Bartender’s Espresso Blend is that there may be a slight barrier to entry. To achieve the depth of flavor and texture that Leavitt has in mind with these beans, you’ll need an espresso machine, and you’ll need to know how to pull a proper shot from it. “The reason why it works is the pressurized extraction method through an espresso machine,” Leavitt explains. “If you were to use a pourover or just try to brew a really strong cold brew, you might get close. But the problem is that without that pressure, you’re not getting the emulsification of the oils, getting that crema.” Leavitt adds, “Cold brew is much softer, it’s not as acidic and that acid actually is pretty important.”
Restaurants could also benefit from using the Bartender’s Espresso Blend. Many consider the quality of coffee beans for brewing espresso, but not necessarily how they would mesh with their cocktail programs. “I’ve been to plenty of places that just buy generic coffee to fill those espresso machines because they need to have something,” Leavitt says. Now he wants to help those establishments elevate their cocktail programs. “How do we talk about a story about the blend that we’re using, knowing that we’re proud to serve something that’s specifically tailored for cocktails.”
The Not Just a Bartender x Roasty Buds partnership speaks to the increasing appetite for consumers to create quality goods with their own hands. “I strongly feel coffee lovers experimenting at home will want to fine-tune their craft. Making an espresso martini at home is so satisfying,” says Montemayor.
Leavitt has worked hand-in-hand with James Beard award-winning chefs at their restaurants in Las Vegas and has become a leading voice in the industry. “I found through just brute force and trying samples and working in cocktail bars for years, that when we had better espresso, we had better aesthetically pleasing espresso martinis… that fat foam…it’s literally like crack cocaine for people who love espresso martinis.”