Boston’s North End has been serious about espresso since long before “third wave coffee” was a phrase anyone used. Walk down Hanover Street on any given morning and you’ll find cappuccinos and cortados poured the way they’ve been poured here for generations. That same standard is exactly what went into building DrinkThat, and it starts with understanding what espresso actually is.
The Short Version: What Makes Espresso, Espresso
Espresso isn’t just strong coffee, it’s a specific method. Finely ground coffee is forced through under high pressure, producing a small, concentrated shot topped with crema, that golden layer that signals it was pulled correctly. Get the grind, pressure, or timing wrong, and you get something bitter or watery instead. Get it right, and you get the foundation for everything from a North End cappuccino to the drink we bottle.
Why the Base Matters More Than People Think
A lot of espresso-based drinks live or die on how much milk or water gets added to that base shot. A cortado dilutes it with equal parts steamed milk. An americano stretches it with hot water. A cappuccino builds a whole architecture of foam on top of it. In every case, though, the drink is only as good as the espresso underneath it, and that’s exactly the standard we held ourselves to when we started bottling DrinkThat.
From the Bar at Bricco to a Bottle You Can Take Home
Our Espresso Martini started as the house cocktail at Bricco, our North End restaurant, where it became one of the most requested drinks on the menu long before we ever thought about bottling it. It’s built around real brewed espresso, not a syrup or flavoring meant to imitate it, blended with hazelnut, vanilla, and cacao into a bold, smooth pour that reads as unmistakably Boston. If Hanover Street taught this neighborhood anything about coffee, it’s that shortcuts show up in the glass, so we didn’t take any.
A Neighborhood That Never Slowed Down on Coffee
The North End’s cafés have kept pulling proper espresso through decades of trend cycles, and that steady standard is part of what makes the neighborhood what it is. DrinkThat is our way of bringing that same commitment out of the espresso bar and into a bottle you can pour anywhere, a dinner party in the Back Bay, a boat on the Charles, or a night in with friends who’ve never made it to the North End at all.
Try the Real Thing
Espresso done right is worth understanding, and it’s worth tasting the difference in every glass. If you want to experience what real North End espresso tastes like in a cocktail, find a bottle of DrinkThat near you, or read more about how the recipe came together on our about page. However you take your espresso, we think you’ll taste why we never cut corners on ours.
