How to Make Espresso Martinis Without Espresso or a Coffee Machine

I was so excited that two friends were coming over for dinner; I wanted to impress them with Espresso Martinis. I always find visitors are so excited to be offered one when they arrive. They are simpler to make than you might think; I don't have an espresso machine and make them using very strong real coffee and they are delicious. Every guest had at least 2.

Preparation time; 15 minutes

Serves; 4

Ground coffee

Coffee liqueur (e.g. Kahlua)

High quality vodka

Whole coffee beans

Ice

You will need 25mls of strong coffee for each drink; 100mls for 4. Use a heaped dessertspoonful of coffee for each serving; four in total. Add 150mls of hot water and leave for 5 minutes; some of it will be soaked up by the grounds. A cafetiere is ideal. Another way to make it very strong is to steep the grounds in the hot water for five minutes in a pan on the hob on a low heat before pouring it through a coffee filter. You could pour it through a cup-top filter or filter paper after steeping. It will be difficult to get it strong enough using a cup-top filter or percolator without steeping first.

I make my coffee a couple of hours in advance so it has time to cool down. You don't want to use ice as you will dilute it too much. If you are making it at the last minute you can cool it down rapidly by putting it in a metal pan and standing it in a sink full of cold water for a few minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the coffee to a cocktail shaker, measure 35mls of coffee liqueur per serving; 140mls in total and add to the shaker. Measure 50mls vodka per serving; 200mls, and add to the shaker.

Add a handful of ice and shake hard for a few minutes to mix and make frothy. You may need to split it by putting half in a cup and shake up half at a time; if the shaker is more than 2/3 full it doesn't tend to froth so well. Remove the large top of the shaker to pour into the glass; if you just remove just the small top the froth will remain in the shaker. Use the top to hold the ice cubes back so they don't end up in the glass.

Add a few coffee beans gently to the surface to finish it off.