Behind the Spec brings you inside recipes and prep from the world's best bars. This edition looks at Espress Yourself, Caspar Mönniche’s winning drink from the Danish final of Borghetti Caffè’s Espresso Martini competition.

I recently wrote about what makes a cocktail competition useful for both brands and bartenders. That article followed my experience judging the Danish final, where a familiar classic gave competitors a clear starting point without making their drinks predictable.

Espress Yourself, created by Caspar Mönniche at HELLA in Aarhus, is a fantastic example. It keeps espresso and coffee liqueur at the centre of the drink, pairing them with vanilla syrup and cacao-infused reposado tequila.

Let’s dive into how the professionals make it. This is Espress Yourself.

Espress Yourself

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cl Vanilla Syrup
  • 2 cl Espresso
  • 3 cl Borghetti Caffé
  • 6 cl Cacao Infused Tequila

Garnish

  • Cacao powder
Glass
Coupette
Method
Shake & Strain
Ice
No Ice

The cacao-infused tequila is the largest measure in the spec, and its prep is clean and simple. Just add 10 g cacao nibs to 1000 ml reposado tequila, leave to infuse for 24 hours, then strain.

Cacao Infused Tequila

Prep ingredients

  • 1000 ml Reposado Tequila
  • 10 g Cacao Nibs

Yield

1000 ml

Instructions

Add 10g cocoa nibs per liter of reposado tequila. Leave to infuse for 24 hours, then strain.

There’s no elaborate equipment or complicated method here. The important details are the choice of tequila, the proportion of cacao nibs and the time it's left to macerate.

The second homemade ingredient is vanilla syrup, made with 1200 g caster sugar, 800 g water and half a vanilla pod. In it's shortest form it's a 1.5:1 ratio sugar syrup with vanilla infused into it.

Heat the sugar and water gently until the sugar dissolves, then add the vanilla pod and its scraped seeds. Leave to cool for six hours before bottling and refrigerating.

The recipe notes that the pod can stay in the bottle, where it will continue to infuse, but removing it after 48 hours makes it more controlled and consistent if storing the syrup for longer.

Vanilla Syrup

Prep ingredients

  • 1200 g Caster Sugar
  • 800 g Water
  • 0.5 Vanilla Pod

Yield

1200 ml

Instructions

Heat up lightly till sugar dissolves. Add vanilla pod and scraped seeds. Let it cool down for 6 hours, then bottle and move to fridge for storage. Vanilla pod can be left inside but will continue to infuse. If storing for longer, then remove the pod after 48 hours.

What I like about sharing this drink is that the recipe didn't die when the competition ended. Both the drink itself and the prep behind it are shared so the drink continues a life of it's own.

That is part of what competitions should leave behind: drinks that other bartenders can make, learn from and take in their own direction, with the original creator credited.

For more on the competition and the thinking behind it, read Building Better Competitions for both Brands & Bartenders.

You can also explore the competition drinks on Borghetti Denmark’s public Peche profile.

Cheers! 🍸