Hazelnut Espresso Martini: The Fall-Twist Recipe to Try This Season

A Classic Gets Cosy

The Espresso Martini has spent the last few years as the undisputed champion of the modern cocktail menu. Bold, glossy and unapologetically dramatic, it is a drink that knows exactly what it is. But as the light starts to shift and jumpers come out of storage, even the most confident classics deserve a seasonal update. Enter the Hazelnut Espresso Martini: the same electric jolt of coffee, wrapped in something warmer, nuttier and altogether more autumnal.

This is not a reinvention. It is a twist, the kind a good bartender makes almost instinctively when the mood of a room changes with the weather. Swap in a hazelnut-forward liqueur or a splash of hazelnut syrup, and suddenly a drink built for a summer terrace feels right at home by candlelight.

Why Hazelnut Works So Well With Coffee

There is a reason hazelnut and coffee have been paired in everything from continental pastries to your local café's autumn menu for decades. Roasted hazelnuts carry natural notes of caramel, toasted wood and a faint sweetness that echoes the deeper, more roasted qualities found in a good espresso. Where coffee brings bitterness and intensity, hazelnut rounds it out, softening the edges without dulling the buzz of flavour.

This is basic flavour pairing logic that chefs and mixologists both lean on: complementary flavour compounds, particularly the pyrazines formed during roasting, appear in both roasted coffee and roasted nuts. Research into flavour chemistry, including work published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, has long noted how shared roasting compounds create a natural harmony between coffee and nuts, which is exactly why this pairing feels so intuitive on the palate.

In cocktail terms, that means a Hazelnut Espresso Martini does not taste like a novelty. It tastes like the Espresso Martini's more thoughtful, slightly more grown-up cousin.

The Flavour Profile You're Aiming For

A well-built version should hit three notes in sequence: a bright espresso hit up front, a rounded hazelnut warmth through the middle, and a clean, only-just-sweet finish. If your version tastes like dessert, you have gone too heavy on syrup. If it tastes purely like coffee, you have not let the hazelnut do its job. Balance is everything here.

The Recipe: Hazelnut Espresso Martini

This recipe uses Lyre's Coffee Originale as the base, which brings deep roasted coffee character without any actual caffeine crash later in the evening, alongside a hazelnut element to bring the seasonal warmth.

Ingredients

• 50ml Lyre's Coffee Originale
• 15ml hazelnut syrup (or a hazelnut-flavoured liqueur alternative)
• 15ml freshly pulled espresso, cooled
• 10ml sugar syrup (adjust to taste, especially if your hazelnut syrup is already sweet)
• Ice, for shaking
• 3 coffee beans, to garnish

Method

1. Chill your martini glass in the freezer for at least ten minutes before you start. A warm glass ruins the presentation and the temperature of the drink.
2. Fill a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. The Espresso Martini family lives or dies on a proper hard shake, so do not skimp here.
3. Add the Lyre's Coffee Originale, hazelnut syrup, cooled espresso and sugar syrup.
4. Shake vigorously for a full 15 to 20 seconds. You are looking for that signature thick, velvety foam on top, which only comes from a genuinely hard shake, not a gentle stir.
5. Double strain into your chilled glass to keep out any ice shards.
6. Garnish with three coffee beans placed carefully on the centre of the foam, a nod to the classic three-bean tradition said to represent health, wealth and happiness.

A Note on the Foam

That characteristic crema on top of a well-made Espresso Martini is not just decorative. It is a genuine textural component of the drink, and it depends almost entirely on shake technique rather than ingredients. Cold espresso, cold shaker, cold glass, and a shake that would make your arm ache. Skip any of those steps and you will end up with a flat, thin pour, no matter how good your hazelnut syrup is.

Ways to Make It Your Own

Toasted Hazelnut Rim

Finely crush some toasted hazelnuts and press them onto half the rim of your glass before pouring. It adds a lovely textural contrast against the smooth foam and reinforces the flavour with every sip.

Brown Butter Twist

For a dinner-party-worthy version, rinse your shaker with a few drops of brown butter or brown butter bitters before shaking. It deepens the nutty, toasted character even further and edges the drink towards something almost dessert-like, without tipping over the edge.

Spiced Edition

A tiny pinch of ground cinnamon or a dash of vanilla in the shaker brings the drink firmly into autumn territory, pairing beautifully if you are serving this alongside spiced desserts or after a roast dinner.

When to Serve It

The Hazelnut Espresso Martini is built for the specific window between dinner and dessert, or as a stylish stand-in for dessert altogether. It works brilliantly at autumn dinner parties, after-work gatherings as the evenings draw in, or as the signature drink at a harvest-themed celebration. Because Lyre's Coffee Originale delivers all the roasted depth of the original without any caffeine hit that keeps you up half the night, it is also a genuinely sensible choice for a later-evening serve, something the classic version was never quite designed for.

The Takeaway

Good bartending is often less about invention and more about listening to the season. The Hazelnut Espresso Martini takes everything that made the original a modern classic and layers in a warmth that feels exactly right for shorter days and cooler evenings. It is a small twist, but it is the kind that makes a familiar drink feel new again.

If you are building out your autumn cocktail list at home, reach for a bottle of Lyre's Coffee Originale and give this one a proper hard shake. Your dinner guests will notice the difference.