This is such a delicious drink, don’t be put off by the time of day it suggests. It is inspired by breakfast, rather than being designed for drinking at breakfast.

The Breakfast Martini is not a true classic martini, but rather a cocktail served in a V-shaped martini glass.

Nonetheless, it has earnt itself a place in the martini ranks for its style, sophistication and all round merit.

It combines the bitter sweetness of Seville oranges with classical English sophistication, all married up by the skill, expertise and love of good quality ingredients from one of the Italian greats of the drinking world.

A Brief History of the Breakfast Martini

The drink was created by ‘the Maestro’ Salvatore Calabrese in London’s Lanesborough Hotel in 1996. Calabrese was not normally a breakfast man, but one day his English wife Sue prepared for him the quintessential English breakfast of marmalade on toast.

Inspired by the simple but comforting dish, famously enjoyed by Paddington Bear, Calabrese took the jar of marmalade to work that day to experiment with mixology. He quickly came up with what has become his signature drink.

Restoration

Cocktails made with marmalade are not new, having been written about by Harry Cradock in the 1920s. They usually fall into the category known as ‘corpse revivers’ or ‘fog cutters’ which are essentially hair-of-the-dog pick-me-ups following a night of excess.

Nonetheless Calabrese both refined and re-invigorated the marmalade cocktail concept – and to great success. The coolness of the gin, careful balancing of flavours and relative simplicity of this drink make it a strong and very charismatic character among the assembled martini personalities.

How to Make a Breakfast Martini

The Breakfast Martini is more complex than a Classic Martini, but not by that much. Once you have the relatively few ingredients together, the method is fairly straight forward, but this is a drink that will require shaking with ice.

The Ingredients

As well as v-shaped martini glasses and a cocktail shaker, you will also need:

• 50ml gin
• 15ml orange liqueur
• 15ml fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp fine cut orange marmalade
• Ice

Optional extras:

• One fresh orange (for a peel garnish)
• Buttered toast

Some notes on the ingredients

I would recommend gins that are not too botanical, and certainly not ones that stray too far from juniper or citrus profiles. Herbal gins or ones with strong botanicals like pepper or anise could end up clashing with the citrus.

Vodka is also completely acceptable in the drink, and indeed will taste less bitter.

For the orange liqueur you could use Cointreau or Triple Sec. There are numerous marmalades you could choose from and it will ultimately come down to taste but I wouldn’t recommend anything other than Seville oranges.

It is also preferable to use fine cut so you have some strands of orange in the marmalade but it otherwise dissolves much easier when you’re preparing the drink.

How to Make a Breakfast Martini

If you prepare a few hours in advance you can get this very cold, but a little shaking with ice can also help meld the ingredients together.

• Put your V-shaped martini glass(es) and gin or vodka into the freezer at least six hours before you want to pour the drink.
• It is worth keeping the orange liqueur and lemon in the fridge as well to get them nice and cold as well.
• Add the marmalade, gin, lemon juice and orange liqueur to a cocktail shaker and muddle/stir until the marmalade has mostly dissolved.
• Add a generous amount of fresh ice, close the shaker and shake well until everything is nicely chilled. If you have kept everything in the fridge or freezer this won’t take long. The extra shaking will also help more of the marmalade dissolve.
• Strain the drink into your cold V-shaped glass(es).

You can serve immediately, or you can enhance the drink with a garnish:

• You can take some strands of marmalade from the shaker and add them to the drink.
• You can take a strip of peel from a fresh orange and shred it, or shape it and serve it like a twist of lemon in the drink.
• You can serve toast with butter and marmalade on the side.
• You can cut the toast into triangles and place a triangle on the rim of the glass as an attention-grabbing garnish.

You can also garnish this drink with other orange-related items such as a a triangle taken from an orange slide, or a candied or crystalised orange slice.

The Breakfast Martini goes nicely with dark chocolate (or even milk chocolate although this can seem a little sweet). A crystalised orange slice dipped in dark chocolate is particularly decadent.

The Profile

The drink is sweet, sour and tart. The bitter orange, sour lemon juice and dry gin balance beautifully with the jammy marmalade and orange liqueur, while the drink has a lovely tactile sensation on the tongue.

It’s a delightful pick-me-up that gives you a sugar hit without the caffeine of an Espresso Martini.

When to Serve the Breakfast Martini

Corpse-revivers are typically served before 11am, but this seems like very dangerous territory to me. I would only ever drink at that time of the day on very rare occasions and I would need to have the emergency services on stand-by for later in the day unless I had a robust sleep scheduled for a chunk of the afternoon.

It might be a suitable morning drink if you intended to lie on a beach or by the poolside for some time, albeit with plenty of water to stay hydrated in the sun.

It would be a very suitable brunch drink, although again, be ready for an afternoon of recovery. You don’t to get arrested in your daytime outfit before the sun has even set.

It makes an extremely pleasant post-dinner dessert drink, especially if served with dark chocolate as mentioned. You could actually pre-mix the ingredients before dinner and store them in the freezer to get them really cold, so long as they don’t freeze over. This would make it much easier to pour them immediately after your meal.

Otherwise, if served with toast they make a very indulgent supper, although you might want to leave an hour or two before bed to keep the sugar rush from interrupting your sleeping patterns. Make sure you brush your teeth before bed as well!

La Restaurazione

Otherwise, my favourite slot for a breakfast martini is actually in the late afternoon. Picture this: you’ve had a busy day of running around town, maybe shopping or museum hopping or a show or a film. This non-caffeinated sugar rush will get you back on your feet with just enough of a boost to get your train home.

Alternatively you could pair it with a nice nap in your home or hotel room before showering, changing and getting ready to go out again for a second round of the day, such as dinner, more drinks and the theatre.

It’s restorative, tasty, charming and nostalgic.

Grazie mille Signore e Signora Calabrese!