Cheers! Three festive coffee cocktails for baristas to make at home

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Enjoy some cheer with these delicious and easy-to-make coffee cocktails, plus discover a new shake & pour coffee martini

Coffee people normally enjoy plenty of festivity at industry events each December. So this year we’ve collaborated with Nate Brown from Nebula and Lisa-Laura Verhoest from Climpson & Sons to create three coffee cocktails you can prepare at home.

El Chapo’s ‘Latte’

It looks like a latte, but tastes like it’s been blessed by the Christ-child. Made in Colombia, the rum was matured for 100 months before being filtered through coffee beans. We were dubious about the process until trying it, but this brew is the crack.

Ingredients

Method

  • Add ice and ingredients to a can
  • Shake
  • Serve and strain into an 8oz Duralex glass
Recipe is for a single serve, but you can just scale up the quantities for a Christmas tipple that can be mixed in advance and shaken just before serving

MAGA (Making Americanos Great Again)

Americanos have been every baristas least favourite drink, until now. Not only has 2020 seen Trump kicked out of office, America has re-found its standing in the world thanks to its strong constitution. The same could be said for this Americano-lookalike which is all-the-greater due to an international collaboration of fantastic flavour.

Ingredients

  • 1 measure H by Hine
  • 1 measure Slopes of Eight coffee (or any other reasonably bright Kenyan coffee) brewed and then chilled
  • ½ mesure Creme de Cassis de Dijon
  • Soda water
  • A sprig of rosemary
  • Ice

Method

  • Add several cubes to a highball glass
  • Build, pouring coffee first, then the cognac and finally the Cassis
  • Quickly stir, garnish and serve

Message in a Bottle

This drink puts other espresso martinis to shame by being optimistic for the future. Jettison preparatory hard work and elevate this pre-made espresso martini to levels of indulgence and flavour that are the preserve of Christmas – but we’d happily drink this serve all year round.

Ingredients

Method

  • Add ingredients to a can
  • Shake, strain, serve

Rise and Shine

Wakey-Wakey coffee martini. Image: Milly Fletcher

Forget everything you thought you knew. This pre-mix is made from spent espresso pucks lifted from Ozone’s Bethnal Green roastery which are macerating in rum, vanilla and other secret ingredients. Head and shoulders better than any espresso martini ever served at a coffee festival, we recommend preparing your drinks out of sight, serving and taking all the credit.

Ingredients

Method

  • Add everything to a can and shake
  • Serve, ideally in an espresso martini glass, but anything will do

Making coffee cocktails

Creating new coffee cocktails requires the right mix of creativity, skills, practicality and inspiration. Nate Brown, Lisa-Laura Verhoest and Tim Ridley collaborated to create these drinks for the coffee community this Christmas season.

More

  • Easy Social Cocktail Co. is Nate’s lockdown project. They create pre-made cocktails in Bethnal Green and package them in 500ml bottles and eco-pouches. Order their website, or for immediate, local delivery via Deliveroo.
  • Nebula is Nate’s bar at Containerville, they also serve pizza
  • Lisa-Laura is a UK Brewers’ Cup champion, follow her on Instagram
  • Climpson & Sons is a coffee roaster in London Fields who also makes a pre-made espresso martini and coffee liqueur
  • For more on coffee cocktails, subscribe to United Baristas on YouTube and Instagram