Midnight Espresso Recipe

Make demerara syrup

Combine 2 parts demerara sugar and 1 part hot water in a small jar or saucepan. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature before using. Keeps refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Chill a rocks glass by filling it with ice and setting aside while you build the drink.

Add the reposado tequila (1.5 oz), dark rum (0.5 oz), Borghetti (0.5 oz), Braulio (0.25 oz), cold brew (1 oz), Pedro Ximenez (0.25 oz), and demerara syrup (0.25 oz) into a mixing glass or shaker filled with plenty of ice.

Stir the mixture vigorously for 20–30 seconds (or about 30–40 turns) until well chilled and properly diluted. Stirring rather than shaking preserves clarity and gives a silky texture appropriate for spirit-forward coffee cocktails.

Discard the ice from the chilled rocks glass. Place a large ice cube or sphere in the glass.

Strain the cocktail from the mixing glass into the prepared rocks glass over the large ice.

Float the Pedro Ximenez (if you prefer a more pronounced sweet raisin note) by pouring the 0.25 oz PX slowly over the back of a bar spoon onto the drink so it creates a thin sweet layer on top. (Optional — otherwise PX already combined above.)

Express the oils from the orange twist over the surface of the cocktail by holding the twist over the drink and giving it a firm squeeze, then rub the peel once around the rim and drop it into the glass.

Optionally, float 2–3 whole coffee beans on the surface for aroma and presentation.

Serve immediately and enjoy. The drink is best sipped slowly to appreciate the interplay of coffee, sweet PX, warm oak of reposado, and bitter herbal Braulio.