Marco Bellini, Community Manager · 8 min read
It started with a Thursday evening, a surplus of espresso beans, and a bottle of vodka that had been sitting in the freezer since Christmas. Within three months it became a standing appointment — six neighbours, one Arco Doppio, and a weekly ritual that turned a quiet residential street into an unlikely cocktail destination.
How It Started
The idea came from Anna, a graphic designer who lives three doors down from us. She had just bought an Arco Doppio and was pulling shots on a Thursday evening when her husband suggested making espresso martinis for the couple next door. The drinks were good enough that the couple next door mentioned it to the couple across the road, and by the following Thursday there were eight people in the kitchen. No one planned a club. It just became one. The format settled into itself naturally: every Thursday at eight, whoever wants to come walks over, someone pulls shots on the Doppio, and we make espresso martinis. Sometimes we experiment with variations — an affogato martini with a scoop of vanilla gelato, a salted caramel version with a rim of flaked sea salt, a decaf round for the people who want to sleep before midnight. The machine does the heavy lifting. A fresh double shot, shaken hard with ice, vodka, and coffee liqueur, produces a drink that is categorically different from anything you can order at a bar that batch-brews its espresso martinis hours in advance. The crema transfers to the cocktail — that signature foam on top is not from shaking alone, it is from the CO2 and oils in a freshly pulled shot.
The Recipe We Settled On
After weeks of experimentation, the group converged on a recipe that everyone agrees is the best version. Pull a double shot — 18 grams in, 36 grams out, in about 27 seconds — using a medium roast with chocolate and caramel notes. Dark roasts work but can taste ashy when mixed with spirits. Light roasts are too bright and produce a sour cocktail. Let the shot cool for thirty seconds. Do not use it immediately or it will melt the ice too quickly and dilute the drink. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice — enough that it comes to the top. Add 30 millilitres of vodka, 20 millilitres of coffee liqueur, and the double shot. Shake hard for fifteen seconds. The key is shaking until the outside of the shaker is painfully cold — that means the drink is properly chilled and diluted. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with three coffee beans if you want to be traditional, or a light dusting of cocoa powder if you want to be practical. The drink should have a thick, persistent foam layer that lasts the full glass. If the foam dissipates in seconds, the espresso was not fresh enough or you did not shake hard enough. We pull a fresh shot for every drink. The Doppio heats up in under five minutes and can produce back-to-back shots without temperature dropping, which matters when you are making eight martinis in succession. The dual boiler means one person can be steaming milk for a flat white — designated driver drink — while another pulls shots for cocktails.
Variations Worth Trying
The Thursday club has produced a number of variations that we now rotate through. The Tiramisu Martini replaces coffee liqueur with amaretto and adds a float of mascarpone cream — not shaken in, just layered on top with a bar spoon. It is dangerously good. The Cold Brew Negroni is not technically an espresso martini, but it belongs in the rotation: equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari, with a shot of cold-brewed espresso from the Doppio's cold-brew attachment replacing a portion of the gin. The bitterness of the Campari and the bitterness of the coffee harmonise in a way that should not work but absolutely does. The Irish Flat White is Anna's invention: a double shot pulled directly into a glass with 20 millilitres of Irish whiskey and topped with microfoam from the steam wand. Not shaken, not stirred, just built in the glass. It is closer to an Irish coffee than an espresso martini, but it has become the default nightcap for the group. For non-drinkers, the Virgin Espresso Tonic has become the standard: a double shot poured over ice in a tall glass, topped with quality tonic water. The quinine and the coffee create a flavour combination that is genuinely complex and satisfying without alcohol.
What the Club Actually Means
The espresso martini club is ostensibly about cocktails. In practice, it has become something more significant. It is a standing appointment in a week that otherwise has none. In an era where most socialising requires planning, calendar coordination, and a restaurant reservation, Thursday at eight requires nothing except walking down the street. People come in work clothes, in pyjamas, for fifteen minutes or two hours. There is no pressure to stay, no bill to split, no awkwardness about who ordered what. The machine is the social anchor. It gives people something to do with their hands, something to talk about, something to gather around. The conversations that happen while waiting for a shot to pull are different from the conversations that happen across a dinner table — they are looser, more spontaneous, more likely to go somewhere unexpected. We have had neighbours share job news, relationship struggles, and holiday plans over espresso martinis that they would never have mentioned in a more formal setting. The cost is negligible. A bag of good beans lasts the club about three sessions. The spirits are shared. The total investment for a Thursday evening of genuinely good drinks and better company is roughly what one person would spend on two cocktails at a bar in town. The Arco Doppio was not designed to be a social catalyst, but that is what it has become in our corner of the street.
Key Takeaways
- A fresh double shot from an Arco Doppio produces an espresso martini with genuine crema foam that batch-brewed bar versions cannot match.
- The optimal recipe: 18g double shot, 30ml vodka, 20ml coffee liqueur, shaken hard for 15 seconds with plenty of ice.
- Medium roasts with chocolate and caramel notes work best — dark roasts taste ashy, light roasts taste sour in cocktails.
- The real value of the club is the standing weekly ritual — no planning required, just walk over and pull a shot.
