Coffee Connoisseur's Delight: 8 Irresistible Coffee Liqueurs You Need to Try

Coffee cocktails thrive all year round with respective summer and winter favourites - the Espresso Martini and Irish Coffee. Often overlooked are the coffee liqueurs that mix so well into not just these, but all varieties of coffee cocktails, shots/shooters and even just as sippers over ice. Today, we’ve carefully curated a selection of the finest coffee liqueurs, and even one or two coffee spirits for the sake of variety (and because they’re too good to leave out).

If you love artisan coffee, don’t miss out on these eight irresistible coffee liqueurs, in no particular order…

Thomas Green’s Specialty Coffee Liqueur 

When legendary Leeds bars Domino Club and Rolands had to close their doors due to Covid in 2020, brothers and bar masterminds Alex and Johnathon began crafting their own high quality spirits and liqueurs. Thomas Green’s (named after one of Leeds’ first coffee shops) is the result of this now highly successful venture. Perfect for an Espresso Martini or just sipping over ice. They achieve their deep rich coffee flavour from local coffee roasters Shilo, who use a cold brew extraction that the brothers mix with their own vodka. 

ABV: 25%
Size: 700ml
Find here: £20.55

Cazcabel Coffee Liqueur

Multi-award winning tequila masters, Cazcabel have their very own coffee liqueur. You’ll find this at bars all over the country, best served neat and straight from the freezer. This coffee liqueur is particularly rich, decedent and heavy on the chocolate notes of coffee. Their liqueur is made from their Blanco Tequila, crafted in Jalisco Mexico, which shines through the sweetness of this bartender’s choice liqueur. Use this as a sipper, or maybe try it in a Coffee Margarita - the blend of citrus and coffee is exquisite! 

ABV: 34%
Size: 700ml
Find here: £25.99

Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur

Mr Black have been at the forefront of coffee liqueur innovation since their conception in 2013, crafted by their lead distiller, Philip Moore. This premium bottle boasts rich coffee flavour and less sugar, making it perfect for balancing an amazing espresso martini. Their Australian distillery doubles as their very own coffee roastery, which sources beans from Ethiopia and Brazil. The attention to detail in each bottle of Mr Black Coffee Liqueur makes this a worthy addition to any mixologist's collection. Cocktails aren’t your thing? Mr Black will be perfect over ice on a hot day for any true coffee lover. Pro zero waste tip: this bottle makes a particularly beautiful DIY lamp or decoration when you inevitably finish every last drop.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 23%
Find here: £29.89

Mouse Kingdom Coffee Liqueur

Manchester’s own Mouse Kingdom define themselves as an ethical, considerate and bartender led brand. Their beans (sourced from various countries and roasted in local roastery “heart and graft”) are extracted in a French press for over 48 hours to create an immensely potent and characterful coffee that they blend with their own English wheat vodka. 

The label on this bottle changes every 1500 sold, and they pay local bartender artists to feature on their new label. Everything from the balance of their liqueur to the actual bottle itself is designed to be perfect for bartenders mixing up hundreds of Espresso Martinis a day. 

Size: 700ml
ABV: 20%
Find here: £29.89

Luxardo Espresso Liqueur

It takes 30 whole days to infuse the flavour of Arabica coffee into Luxardo’s Espresso Liqueur. Luxardo has a huge influence on the wider drinks industry, and is still a family owned business operating out of Italy. If there's one thing Italy is known for, it is a history and expertise with coffee, and this local passion shines through in Luxardo’s Espresso Liqueur. This coffee liqueur is also vegan friendly and comes in at a higher ABV than many of its competitors, making for a punchier coffee note in a classic Espresso Martini.  

Size: 700ml 
ABV: 27%
Find here: £21.75

Masons Espresso Vodka

Now for something very different - Masons Espresso Vodka offers a dry alternative to the traditionally sweet coffee liqueur. This is a perfect coffee spirit for sippers who want all of the coffee flavour, without any of the sugar. The vodka is “vapour infused” (often used to infuse botanicals into gin) using beans from El Salvador, and works as the perfect base spirit for an espresso martini. Sub the regular vodka for this and see your classic cocktail elevated to new heights! 

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Find here: £27.44

St. George Spirits’ Nola Coffee Liqueur

Image credit: Karl Steuk

California based purveyor of great spirits, St. George offers up this fantastic coffee liqueur, potent on the nose with notes of plum and dates, and a profound, modern tartness on the palette that you may find in most high end coffee shops. Beyond the coffee, Nola blend their coffee with chicory root and Madagascan vanilla to balance out the more bitter flavours and create a rounded, luscious and almost herbal coffee liqueur. This is a truly unique liqueur and one for the lovers of slightly more tart, herbal coffee. 

Size: 700ml
ABV: 25%
Find here: £36.95

(One to Watch!) Black Gold Coffee Cafe XO

This soon-to-be-launched coffee tequila won the gold award at the recent Spirits Business Tequila & Mezcal awards and it’s easy to see why! We managed to get our hands on a bottle and can confirm the hype! Mexico is a global coffee powerhouse and all that heritage is here, combined with their most famous spirit. It’s so warming, with heavy toasted coffee notes that coat the tongue. We always welcome more sustainable brands on the market, and with their all recycled bottles, Black Gold is sure to impress. 

Size: 700ml
ABV: 34%
Where to Find: Black Gold Cafe XO will be available on Amazon, retailing at £30

You’ve got the best coffee liqueurs, but what about the best vodka for the most famous coffee cocktail - the Espresso Martini! Make the ultimate cocktail with these great vodka recommendations.

By Miley Kendrick

The 10 Best Martini Variations

The martini is a cocktail that never seems to be out of style. No matter where you look, what TV show or film you’re watching, there’s always one character drinking this classy cocktail. Though some say you can’t beat a classic, at The Three Drinkers we’re always open to some variation and innovation! So without further ado, here’s our list of the top 10 variations on a martini!

The Classic Martini

The first thing you need to know about the classic martini is that it’s made with gin. That’s right - gin. Take that bottle of Grey Goose out of your hand right this instant, you’re not going to be needing it. Before you put vodka anywhere near a martini, have a go at the original recipe. A perfect blend of gin and dry vermouth that will never go out of style, here’s how to make the classic martini.

Ingredients
70ml Bombay Sapphire
15ml Dolin Vermouth Dry
lemon twist or olives for garnish 

Method
Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice, stir vigorously for 30 seconds and strain into a pre-cooled martini glass. Garnish with either a twist of lemon or a couple of olives. Enjoy! 

Helena’s Smoky Martini

Though a smoky martini (using Scotch whisky instead of vermouth) has been knocking around for a while, this martini variation has been a recent favourite of our very own Helena Nicklin - so we’ve renamed it Helena’s Smoky Martini! The whisky gives the martini a significantly more smoky flavour (hence the name), and the savoury notes in the Scotch work perfectly with the botanicals of London Dry gin.

Ingredients
15ml The Glenturret 10 Year Old Peat Smoked Whisky
60ml London Dry gin
lemon twist for garnish 

Method
Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice, stir well and strain into a cooled martini glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon and enjoy!

Dirty Martini

It’s time to get down and dirty with a classic dirty martini. You’ve probably heard this drink being ordered a few times, but do you know what actually makes it dirty? No, it’s not a handful of dirt, it’s pickle juice! The salty bathwater of olives is an ingredient that while not exactly expected, is as popular as ever. Our salt craving taste buds can’t get enough of the savoury Dirty Martini…

Ingredients
70ml Dima’s Vodka
25ml Dolin Vermouth Dry
15ml pickle juice
pickles for garnish

Method
Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass filled with cracked ice, stir vigorously for 30 seconds and strain into a pre-cooled martini glass. Garnish with a pickle. Enjoy! 

Bond’s Vesper Martini

We’ve been expecting you… The Vesper, named after Bond character Vesper Lynd, isn’t just a movie invention - no, this cocktail comes straight out of the Bond novels (Casino Royale, published in 1953, to be exact). We even get a fairly comprehensive recipe given to us: “Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”. Unfortunately, Kina Lillet stopped being produced in the 1970s. Since then, Bond lovers and mixologists have bound together to either a) Track down a rare bottle, or b) Find a suitable alternative. As for A, the last known full bottle to exist sits in the Museum of the American Cocktail, but for B, they’ve collectively decided that Cocchi Americano is a great alternative (phew).

Ingredients (according to Bond, James Bond)
3 measures Gordon’s Gin
1 measure vodka
½ measure Cocchi Americano
A large slice of lemon peel for garnish 

Method (according to Drinkers, The Three Drinkers)
Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice and stir well until ice-cold. We’re stirring rather than shaking, because shaking dilutes the Vesper too much in our opinion… sorry, James! Garnish with a large slice of lemon peel, got it?

Perfect Martini

In this sense, perfect does not mean ‘the best martini to exist ever’, it actually means that the cocktail has equal parts sweet and dry vermouth. The addition of the sweet vermouth makes this cocktail a little sweeter and gives it a beautiful amber colour. The Perfect martini makes a wonderful aperitif, but could also work as a tasty after dinner drink. Fun vermouth tip: keep the vermouth refrigerated after opening, as vermouth will oxidise and go bad after about a month!

Ingredients
50ml gin
15ml Dolin Vermouth Dry
15ml Antica Formula Carpano Vermouth
orange twist for garnish 

Method
Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice, stir well and strain into a cooled martini glass. Garnish with a twist of orange and enjoy!

Gibson

The Gibson may have fallen a little out of fashion, but that doesn’t mean it can’t come back into fashion! Though it has a different name, a Gibson is really just a funky name for a martini that’s been garnished with a tiny pickled onion rather than olives or lemon peel. We have to admit, the white onion with the clear cocktail does look pretty stylish and the savoury onion gives the cocktail an umami undertone it might not get otherwise. Try this one out!

Ingredients

70ml Bombay Sapphire
15ml Dolin Vermouth Dry
mini pickled onions for the garnish 

Method
Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice, stir well and strain into a cooled martini glass. Garnish with a mini pickled onions and enjoy! 

Breakfast Martini

The breakfast martini is an interesting take on a martini, namely because it uses a spoon of marmalade in its creation, but it is definitely worth a try. The trick to mastering this cocktail is using REALLY good marmalade (we’ve heard Paddington Bear gives out great recommendations). The result is an orangey treat you’ll be glad you took a risk on.

Ingredients
1 spoon marmalade
50ml gin
15ml Cointreau
15ml fresh lemon juice
orange peel twist for garnish
small triangle of toast for garnish 

Method
Put the marmalade and gin in the bottom of a cocktail shaker and stir until dissolved (this might take a while). Add the other ingredients and shake vigorously with ice. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish with a twist of orange. Slot the tiny toast onto the rim of the glass and enjoy!

French Martini

Oui oui mon ami, c'est le martini français! This delicious, fruity treat will transport you all the way to France with the inclusion of French raspberry liqueur Chambord. We’re not too sure how native pineapples are to France, but all geographical qualms will melt away once you taste the fresh, juiciness of this drink.

Ingredients
60ml vodka
15ml Chambord
45ml pineapple juice (not from concentrate)
slice of pineapple for garnish 

Method
Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Fine strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass and garnish with a slice of pineapple. Tchin tchin!

Espresso Martini

You know it, you love it, it’s the in your face bang slam cocktail that the world can’t get enough of, The Espresso Martini. There’s something about that beautiful white foam that glistens on top of this cocktail that is nothing short of mesmerising, and really impressive to serve to friends. If you’ve been too afraid to venture into espresso territory before, why not start now? We assure you that with the right ingredients, the Espresso Martini is nowhere near as scary as it might seem…

Ingredients
40ml Black Cow Vodka
25ml Kahlúa coffee liqueur
25ml cooled espresso
½ tbsp simple syrup
three coffee beans, for garnish 

Method
Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Fine strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with three coffee beans. Enjoy! 

Pornstar Martini

Oh come on, you know we had to include this one. Just the smell of passion fruit liqueur can get you thinking about nights full of raucous fun and bad jokes. You may want to check the stability of your kitchen table before you start serving these, however, as dancing is guaranteed. With the prosecco shot accompaniment, we like to sip it while we drink the cocktail - but you do you.

Ingredients
1 ripe passion fruit, halved
30ml vanilla vodka
30ml Passoa
10ml lime juice
10ml sugar syrup
prosecco, to serve 

Method
Scoop the seeds from half of the passion fruit into the tin of a cocktail shaker, add the vodka, passion fruit liqueur, lime juice and sugar syrup. Add a handful of ice and shake well, strain into a coupe and float half a passionfruit on top. Serve with a shot of prosecco and worry about when to drink it...

What are the Best Coffee Cocktails?

Alcohol and coffee: a combination that can definitely get divisive at times. Some revel in the flavours, some will remind you that ‘you’ll pay for mixing alcohol and caffeine’. Let’s forget about the sensible tutters for a second and talk about all the good that can come from a perfectly constructed coffee cocktail.

From an Espresso Martini to a simple Irish coffee, there’s a lot to unpack and enjoy in the world of boozy coffee drinks. Here are our favourites and some recipes to go along with them! 

Espresso Martini

Ingredients
60ml Black Cow Pure Milk Vodka
15ml Kahlúa
30ml freshly brewed, cooled espresso
15ml simple syrup
3 coffee beans for garnish

Method
Add vodka, Kahlúa, espresso and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with 3 coffee beans in the centre of the glass (ideally with tweezers or tongs).

Black Cow Pure Milk Vodka: UK £27.05
Kahlúa: UK £18.75 // US $30.99 

Coffee Old Fashioned

Ingredients
60ml Bulleit Bourbon
15ml St. George Nola Coffee Liqueur
7ml simple syrup
2 dash orange bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
twist of orange for garnish

Method
Pour the bourbon, coffee liqueur, simple syrup and bitters into a mixing glass. Fill the mixing glass three quarters full with ice. Stir for 30 seconds until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube and garnish with a twist of orange.

Bulleit Bourbon: UK £30.90 // US $37.99 
St. George Nola Coffee Liqueur: UK £35.50 // US $34.99

Irish Coffee

Ingredients
¾ mug hot coffee
45ml The Sexton Single Malt Whiskey
5-10ml maple syrup
whipped cream

Method
Pour the whiskey and 1 teaspoon of maple syrup into a heatproof mug or glass and add a splash of the hot coffee. Stir until the maple syrup has dissolved. Pour the rest of the coffee into the mug and taste. Add more maple syrup if you would like a sweeter coffee. Top with whipped cream and enjoy!

The Sexton Single Malt: UK £28.84 // US $23.99

White Russian

Ingredients
60ml shots vodka
30ml Tia Maria
1 splash heavy cream

Method
Add the vodka and Tia Maria to an ice filled rocks glass. Top with the heavy cream and stir until chilled. Enjoy!

Tia Maria: UK £21.05 // US $43.99 

Spanish Coffee

Ingredients
90ml strong freshly brewed, cooled coffee
60ml Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur
15ml Cointreau
15ml aged rum
granulated sugar (for the rim)
lemon wedge
whipped cream
grated chocolate
kitchen torch

Method
Brew the coffee and allow it to cool slightly. Use the lemon wedge to wet a ½ inch of the outer rim of the heatproof glass and dip the rim in granulated sugar. Carefully use a kitchen torch to caramelise the sugar and turn it brown. Add the Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, Cointreau, rum and coffee to the glass and stir once. Add whipped cream and garnish with chocolate shavings.

Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur: UK £29.95 // US $31.99
Cointreau: UK £25.95 // US $60.99

Amaretto Coffee

Ingredients
100ml strong freshly brewed coffee
50ml Lazzaroni Amaretto
whipped cream
maple syrup

Method
Add the amaretto to the freshly brewed coffee in a heatproof mug or glass. Top with whipped cream and garnish with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Lazzaroni Amaretto: UK £22 // US $34.99

Are you a lover of coffee flavoured drinks? If so, make sure you check out The Best Vodka for an Espresso Martini and STRYKK: Not R*M Espresso Martini!