First concocted in the 1980s London club scene, the vodka-coffee cocktail started as a symbol of cosmopolitan cool then quickly became a cliché of superficial sophistication. Well, it’s back — and with quite the glow-up. For a sweeter spin, Rhubarb Café and Cocktails offers six playful takes, like salted caramel and lavender, each with different mixes of flavoured syrups and spirits.
For those who’d rather sample than commit, The Common’s espresso martini flight (pictured above) features a mini quartet crafted with in-house syrups and Fawkes Café’s cold brew. The head cocktail creator Piper Robinson gets playful (coconut and pineapple, cacao nib and hibiscus), but purists can rest easy knowing that both restaurants still offer the classic.
This article appears in the September 2025 issue of Edify
