Espresso Martini Slush
Wake-up cocktail meets brain freeze.
Cold-brew concentrate, vodka, coffee liqueur. Velvety, caffeinated, dangerously easy to drink.
Bench-tested by the Will It Slush? team · Last revised July 25, 2026
Ingredients
Scale the batch — amounts update live in your units.
- Vodka175 ml
- Coffee Liqueur (Kahlúa)120 ml
- Cold Brew Concentrate235 ml
- 2:1 Simple Syrup60 ml
- Water355 ml
Method
- 1.Brew cold brew strong (1:4).
- 2.Combine all in Slushi, run 60 min.
- 3.Serve in chilled coupe with 3 coffee beans on top.
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Notes from our testing
Brew the espresso, chill it fully, then build — warm coffee stalls the freeze cycle for twenty minutes.
Everything about this one is fine on paper. Vodka, coffee liqueur, espresso and a touch of syrup lands near 11% ABV and 12 Brix without much effort. The problem is thermal: pouring 60 °C espresso into the chamber means the machine spends the first twenty minutes just removing that heat, and on a warm kitchen counter it sometimes never catches up.
Brew the espresso and refrigerate it for at least an hour, or brew it double strength over ice so it cools instantly without going watery. Cold brew concentrate works and is the easier route, though it is rounder and less bitter — bump the coffee liqueur down slightly if you use it, because most concentrates are sweeter than espresso.
Kahlúa is about 20% ABV and very sweet, around 30 Brix. Two ounces is the practical ceiling before the sugar takes over; if you want a stronger coffee note, get it from more espresso, not more liqueur.
There is no foam. A shaken espresso martini gets its crema from aeration in the shaker and the auger does not do that. If the head matters, dispense the slush and float two bar spoons of shaken espresso on top.