The Best Nespresso co*cktails – Nespresso Guide (2024)

Here co*cktail stands for alcoholic drinks, not simply a mixture of coffee with some juices or sodas.

While mixing coffee with alcohol is a thing since a century (or even centuries), it’s still not that common for coffee fans to drink both coffee regularly and coffee co*cktails. Even less so, making co*cktail with a Nespresso machine; not even Nespresso advertise much alcoholic drinks with their line of coffee. There are but a handful of co*cktail recipes that are alcoholic on the official website. We feel that using a Nespresso capsule to make a good co*cktail is an underrated habit and we experimented over the last months with preparing some.

Everybody knows an Irish Coffee or a Caffè Corretto or an Espresso Martini. Countless other co*cktails do exist though. We thought it would be a good idea to highlight some less known ones. Some of the “official” ones from Nespresso are:

Best Nespresso capsules for co*cktails

Hard to say which of the many Nespresso capsules are the best for co*cktails. It depends on the co*cktail itself, first, and what is the role of the coffee in it. If it’s the heart of the drink, and thus shouldn’t be overcome by any other ingredient, or if it is an addition to a very flavourful co*cktail. The role of the coffee will dramatically influence the choice of the right capsule.

Some guidelines can be given. If the coffee is the most important ingredient, the one that gives the full character to the co*cktail, a medium/strong capsule will probably be the best choice. Choose the one that has the notes you most want to highlight and most closely go with the other ingredients in the drink. For example, a “woody” capsule like Kazaar will go great with most Scotch-based co*cktails.

Chocolate liqueurs or based off nuts will also accompany very well a capsule like Kazaar or Ispirazione Napoli. They are strong enough to not be overwhelmed by the intense tones of dark chocolate, hazelnuts or creamy liqueurs. You need a capsule that will be somewhat similar to the taste of the other ingredients and at the same time that will be as strong as the spirits you’re using it with.

On the other hand a more nuanced, lighter-bodied capsule like Ethiopia and Cosi will easily disappear if paired with a strong whisky or a dark rum. You could always increase the doses of coffee in the final drink but then you’d risk overwhelm other ingredients like fruit juices and syrups that won’t have a chance to shine if paired with large quantities of coffee. Even a light-bodied capsule is still coffee, an intense beverage. Thus, for lighter spirits (like Vodka or a straight Gin), and for more fruity co*cktails, go for a light, less intense capsule.

Good choices here can be La Cumplida Refinada, Colombia (also Esperanza de Colombia), Ethiopia, Forest Fruit.

A third possibility in choosing Nespresso capsules for co*cktails is to look for some contrasting notes, that won’t be against each other but complement themselves instead. That is the case of using lemon or orange juice, high in acidity, with a coffee that has little to no acidity at all. Think of Arpeggio or Roma. This will allow you to taste neither a too acidic nor too low in acidity drink, with complementary flavours. The chocolate factor of a capsule can mix well with a juice of a tropical fruit or an orange.

Well-mixed co*cktails usually fall into this category but are the trickiest to make, as you have to take into consideration the acidity, intensity and all taste notes of each ingredient to make a good, not displeasing or jarring, contrast. It’s far too easy for a beginner in mixology to make a drink that on paper should taste good and balanced and use a wrong spirit for it or brew the Nespresso capsule in the wrong size, ruining the tasting experience.

In any case, all the capsules can work well with the appropriate co*cktail. Experimenting is the only way to discover what works well with what. When unsure, try first the tested recipes we gave above and develop a taste from those. Play with them, removing one or more ingredients or switching one by one to craft your favourite co*cktail with a Nespresso capsule.

If you have already invented a co*cktail with coffee, we’d love to hear your impressions and its recipe in the comments!