Espresso Martini
Recipe Courtesy: Bacchus Restaurant, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

There are many attempts at an Espresso Martini out there, but the one at the Bacchus Restaurant (now closed) in St. Croix, Virgin Islands was the best by far. It was the combination of Cruzan's Vanilla Rum and strong, fresh brewed coffee that set this one apart as spectacular. When you're making this, be sure to allow your coffee to chill while also making sure it is fresh - if the coffee's hot the ice in the shaker will melt almost instantly. A few minutes in the refrigerator or freezer chills hot coffee nicely.

This martini is best with the strongest coffee you can make and perfect for a shot of espresso.

Garnishing any espresso martini with three whole coffee beans is a bit of a tradition. It stems from Italy's coffee sambuca drink in which the beans symbolize health, happiness, and prosperity. To make coffee sambuca, all you need to do is float three coffee beans—never an even number of beans as it is considered bad luck—in one to two ounces of sambuca and sip it slowly as an aperitif or digestif. To complement the anise notes in the sambuca, the beans can be chewed on.

2 ounces Cruzan Vanilla Rum
1 3/4 ounces Kahlua coffee liqueur
1 1/2 ounces strong coffee, chilled
3 espresso beans, or chocolate espresso beans

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well.

Strain into a well-chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with coffed beans.

Yield: 1 Cocktail