The Absolute Best Coffee Liqueur for Espresso Martinis

Crafted from Gillies coffee (America’s oldest coffee merchant), water, alcohol and raw sugar, 11th Hour is made onsite at a tiny Manhattan distillery attached to New York’s Hello Hello bar. The brand credits the slow maceration process for the end result, which is delightfully balanced. There’s a decided note of milk chocolate and a bit of cherry, the coffee flavor isn’t bitter but provides wonderful aromatics, and the mouthfeel is both oily and creamy. Not overly sweet, it makes an ideal Espresso Martini. 

“11th Hour is designed not only to add but also to amplify real coffee flavor,” says Rob Nieves, partner of Hello Hello Bar & Cafe and 11th Hour Coffee Liqueur. “We designed it in response to a category defined by excess sugar and artificial flavoring. So we built our own solution. We wanted to demonstrate what the next generation of liqueurs and cocktail bars can look like when in-house distillation, creativity and hospitality coexist.” 

Bonus: 11th Hour works great in other cocktails. ”People forget that coffee is actually a fruit,” Nieves adds. “I personally love 11th Hour in tiki-style cocktails with mango or passionfruit. I also love a coffee Old Fashioned using 11th Hour as the base with dark rum.”

Made from 100% Robusta coffee bean extract, sugar, and a blend of vodka and rum, Dorda’s coffee liqueur (25% ABV) is part of a larger range of handcrafted Polish dessert liqueurs from Chopin Vodka (the line is named after Chopin founder Tad Dorda’s family) that promise no artificial ingredients. Interestingly, this feels like a coffee liqueur that’s only kissed with a hint of coffee — while that bitter, roasted note is present, this is more sweet vanilla and dark chocolate. If your coffee orders at Starbucks lean towards the dessert side, this is your mixer.

A Total Wine brand, Cafe Granita (21% ABV) features coffee beans that are lightly roasted and fermented with sugar. Available in a Double Black variation and multiple coffee cream liqueurs, a key here is the modest price; it’s unsurprisingly much cheaper than Kahlúa. The core product here is oily, sweet and offers modest, not-too-bitter coffee notes and a nice touch of vanilla. 

The original cold brew-based liqueur and a favorite of pretty much every bartender, Mr Black is produced from 100% Arabica coffees sourced from Colombia and Ethiopia. Blended with vodka, it’s a bit syrupy in texture but also light, sweet and retains that coffee bitterness (which cold brew tends to leech out). It’s ideal for “Cold” Fashioneds, Espresso Martinis and even paired with tonic.

Grand Brulot is based on a French tradition where coffee was blended with Cognac to create a drink called “The Brulôt” and is made by combining VSOP Cognac and 100% Robusta coffee from Ecuador before it’s aged in French Oak barrels for six years. There’s not much on the nose here, but there are enough mocha, coffee and vanilla notes to (subtly) enhance your daily coffee experience or make a nice variation of Arnaud’s Cafe Brulot.

The just-launched Brown Sugar calls itself “the world’s first real coffee tequila.” Only available on a first-come, first-served waitlist, it’s made from additive-free Tequila Purísima Blanco combined with single-origin Mexican coffee and softened by raw piloncillo, Mexico’s unrefined brown sugar. Arriving in a squat and rather heavy bottle, this expression is decidedly not for Espresso Martinis. There’s lots of roasted coffee and cooked agave on the nose that continues on to the palate where a velvety sweetness arrives. It’s delicious, and for the sake of your wallet, you should probably just sip this one.

Hailing from Pennsylvania’s Bluebird Distilling and Char & Stave coffee roasters, this rich and velvety expression is Bluebird Vodka blended with freshly roasted coffee and a touch of cane sugar. The surprise here is the wonderful dark chocolate note that dominates (alongside the coffee and vanilla flavors). 

Crafted from 100% single-estate coffee grown on the slopes of the Santa Ana Volcano in El Salvador, Estate 98 makes a few bold claims: They have more caffeine than any other coffee liqueur on the market, the least amount of sugar (1g per oz.) and the bottle can replace both the coffee liqueur and the espresso in your Espresso Martini. It’s definitely not sweet — you’ll want to add a little simple syrup to your cocktail — but the bitter, fruitier notes of the coffee and a bit of dark chocolate do shine through.

Dirty Brew flavored vodka is a blend of Belvedere’s organic rye vodka and roasted organic robusta coffee beans. Coming in at 30% ABV, the intense coffee flavor actually puts this more in the coffee liqueur category. It’s full of dark chocolate, vanilla, dark roast coffee and a slight herbaceous note from the rye mash bill. 

Pioneers in the craft spirits landscape, California’s St. George makes an exceptional coffee liqueur. Crafted from Ethiopian coffee beans, French-roast chicory, Madagascar vanilla and cane sugar, this one captures the java notes of New Orleans (credit the chicory) and nicely balances sweet and bitter flavors. It’s a bit like a chocolate espresso bean with some nuttiness and smokiness — and, thankfully, a 25% ABV kick. 

Launched in 2025, this liqueur is a collaboration between Nevada’s Minden Mill Distilling and Alpen Sierra Coffee Roasting Co., combining estate-distilled spirits and a five-origin blend of high-altitude roasted beans. At 25% ABV, everything about Evil Bean seems designed to deliver a pleasant tasting and aromatic journey. It’s a bit more cherry- and fruit-forward on the nose with milk chocolate, caramel and modestly sweet coffee flavors on the palate. Think of it like a Caramello in liqueur form.

There’s a bit of a Tootsie Roll and saspirilla note at play here, no surprise given that the brand (a relatively new release from Colorado) suggests combining the liqueur with root beer to create a Tootsie Roll cocktail. Made with vodka and premium Colombian coffee (apparently a family recipe), this unofficial ode to The Dude is a fairly smooth, not-too-bitter, modestly sweet coffee liqueur with no artificial colors or flavors. Given its name, it’s no surprise it works well in a White Russian.

While the long-running liqueur brand gears its marketing toward an elevated Espresso Martini (and has partnered with the World’s 50 Best Bars to stake that claim), Tia Maria offers a nuanced and balanced flavor profile. Made from 100% Arabica coffee from Brazil, Jamaican rum and utilizing a cold brew extraction process, this is something that could elevate a Revolver without dominating the drink. 

While the family has been making tequila for more than 40 years, Cantera Negra is a relatively new tequila brand and fresh to the U.S. market — it was partially acquired by Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits near the end of 2022. Available in Silver, Reposado, Añejo, Extra Añejo and Café expressions, the last one is the most fascinating. This is an agave-based coffee liqueur that’s rich, nutty and a bit smoky (and if you prefer tequila-based Espresso Martinis, as I do, this might be an ideal combination). Note: While it’s not currently in production, you can still find Patron XO on shelves, and Cazadores, El Mayor and Bandero also offer worthy tequila-based coffee spirits.

Kahlúa is probably the best known of the coffee liqueurs, and for good reason — they’ve been at it since 1936. Crafted from 100% Arabica coffee beans, Kahlúa (which actually bills itself as “rum and coffee liqueur”) remains a worthy drink. Oily and rich with notes of cherry, black coffee, dark chocolate and even a hint of rum grassiness, it’s perfectly solid for any coffee liqueur-based cocktail. If you’ve ever been around someone who orders it after dinner neat or on the rocks, you’ll recognize its FOMO power (“Oh, you’re having Kahlúa? So will I.”). What truly makes this Mexican spirit “fun” is its spinoffs: There’s a Dunkin’ cream liqueur, an Especial release that emphasizes the coffee flavor, and both Chocolate and White Chocolate variations.

The “Forghetti Shot” is half Caffe Borghetti, half Fernet Branca, and it’s awesome. Borghetti itself — made with real Italian espresso with a recipe dating back to 1860 — is a bit grassy/herbal on the nose but far more balanced on the palate. The coffee/bitter notes here are robust, but they’re offset by a sweetness that includes hints of dark chocolate, cherry and vanilla.