London’s best coffee cocktails

Wake up and smell the coffee: as the damp days of February crawl by, you need more than caffeine.

You need alcohol in your daily brew. You’ve suffered through a boozeless — or booze-minimal — month as penance for your 2017 decadence, so now spiking your coffee makes sense. If the French can add a shot of cognac to their 7am espresso, why not you?

Plus, it’s nearly Valentine’s Day, when drinking heavily while staying awake all night is actively encouraged (wahey, etc). So-called espresso Martinis — teeth-numbingly sweet with Kahlúa and sugar syrup — have long been the scourge of purists lamenting their misleading title (putting vodka, Kahlúa, espresso and sugar syrup in a Martini glass does not make it a Martini). But more grown-up, boozed-up coffee is out there.

The best caffeine cocktails are found at coffee shops, where bean obsessives ensure that only the finest ethically sourced, house-roasted, hand-ground blends get mixed with your tipple. Original coffee-cocktail maverick Grind has whole menus dedicated to bean-spiked booze, from caffeinated Negronis and Flat White Russians to the Grind Café Français (filter coffee, Grey Goose vodka, espresso-infused cream, cacao nibs) and a Turbo G&T (Bulldog gin, Sandows cold brew, tonic) that will pep up the weariest of Friday nights.

Freshly ground Alpress espresso infuses Campari and gin at Boki in Seven Dials for Negronis with an extra kick. And then there’s tongue-in-cheek café Chapter 72 in Bermondsey where, sure, you could have a cappuccino. But you could instead have a Port of Rios (Tia Maria, bay leaf-infused port, cold brew coffee) and the bonkers Netflix & Chill (left), a super-sweet blend of Tia Maria, popcorn syrup, organic milk and espresso, with a side of popcorn, which would raise a smile in all but the grimmest booze purists.

Coffee is key for some of the capital’s top mixologists. At Super Lyan, Ryan Chetiyawardana offers nitro Martinis on tap ( Jack Daniel’s, Mr Lyan cola and Sandows cold brew) that are a far cry from sickly happy-hour sludge. Rich Woods, the cocktail maverick behind Duck & Waffle’s cracking drinks list, is renowned for his ristretto Negroni: a boozy Chemex brew of gin, Campari, Aperol and vermouth dripped through coffee grounds for 24 hours. Grab his new cocktail book and make dark winter days that much more bearable.

Want that coffee taste without the kick? Coffee liqueur is being redeemed from its sticky career in pornographically named shooters. New sushi restaurant Yen serves an ever so sophisticated digestif Jaffa-Yama (Angostura 1919 rum, coffee liqueur, Cointreau and chocolate bitters) that tastes like dunking a Jaffa Cake in Nescafé, but posher. And if you really must have an ‘espresso Martini’, at least make it interesting: Canova Hall in Brixton serves a pimped-up hazelnut version, combining espresso, Santa Teresa rum, Frangelico, Kahlúa, hazelnuts, chilli and chocolate bitters. Fire up the espresso machine — dry January is over.

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/london-s-best-coffee-cocktails-a3760436.html