On bar menus around the world, the now-ubiquitous Espresso Martini has been joined by a sibling on the rise: the so-called Espresso Notini, a nonalcoholic spin on the caffeinated stalwart. 

In Australia—a perpetual Espresso Martini hotbed—the Junction Hotel in Newport (a suburb of Sydney) serves its Espresso Notini, mixed with Kahlúa-esque Lyre’s Coffee Originale, rum alternative Lyre’s White Cane Spirit, chilled drip coffee and vanilla syrup. Up in the Northern Hemisphere, Nick + Stef’s Steakhouse in Los Angeles has embraced the same moniker for its zero-proof take on the drink, but employs Lyre’s Agave Blanco, which is meant to mimic tequila, plus espresso, agave syrup and the traditional garnish of coffee beans. You can even swig Notinis on the high seas: Aboard the Norwegian Prima, a recently launched cruise ship, the burgeoning drink is available as part of its substantial N/A cocktail program.

It’s to be expected that a drink as popular as the Espresso Martini would conquer the zero-proof category. (See also: the Nogroni.) But, apart from the demand for it, is the cocktail itself truly suited to having an alcohol-free twin? The answer is emphatically yes, according to Ryan Castelaz, the founder and creative director of Discourse Coffee and The Counter Day Bar, a nonalcoholic bar in Milwaukee. Like any full-proof cocktail, the viability of an exceptional N/A take on the classic depends a lot on the quality of the zero-proof spirits going into it; when it comes to the nonalcoholic Espresso Martini, “we are about six months into the possibility of this being good,” says Castelaz.

He’s referring to the increasing availability of the aforementioned Lyre’s Coffee Originale, which landed in the U.S. in select markets in 2019 and has become more accessible thanks to subsequent nationwide distribution deals, on the rise as recently as December 2022. Castelaz says that the Lyre’s product helps deliver both a comparable flavor and the rich mouthfeel of an alcoholic Espresso Martini to its zero-proof analogue. The N/A liqueur’s growth tracks with a bigger boom happening: Liquor store shelves and backbars are welcoming a new wave of alcoholic coffee liqueurs. 

Castelaz’s quest for the ideal texture in the modern classic doesn’t end there. At Counter, his take includes Coffee Originale, plus a nonalcoholic rum, vanilla syrup and what he calls ultrasonic coffee—made by co-opting a brewing technique that uses vibration from an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner to extract more “fattiness” from coffee beans, thereby lending the drink more of that luscious crema that Espresso Martini drinkers swoon over. It’s a method that’s been used to “rapidly age” Martinis and other cocktails. (At home, you can replicate Castelaz’s recipe with cold-brew concentrate.) That the N/A Espresso Martini is undergoing high-tech enhancements—like cavitation-brewed coffee—points to not just the drink’s growing popularity, but also the promise it holds to be exceptional in its own right as a beverage, and, like the Nogroni before it, serve as a bartender holy grail. 

In fact, for his part, Castelaz has resisted adopting the term “Notini” for Counter’s spirit-less version of the cocktail. To him, there’s simply nothing lacking about it.