Cocktail recipe
Breakfast Martini
Orange marmalade turns a sharp gin sour into an unexpectedly grown-up breakfast joke.
Ingredients
- 50 ml (1⅔ oz) London dry gin
- 20 ml (⅔ oz) dry orange liqueur
- 20 ml (⅔ oz) fresh lemon juice
- 1 barspoon (5 ml / 1 tsp) orange marmalade
- Garnish: thin orange twist
Preparation
Loosen the marmalade with the gin in the shaker before adding the orange liqueur and lemon. Pack with ice and shake hard enough to dissolve the preserve and sharpen the citrus. Fine-strain into a cold coupe and finish with a slim orange twist.
Glassware
Chilled coupe
History
Salvatore Calabrese created the Breakfast Martini at London’s Lanesborough Hotel in 1996, inspired by marmalade at the family breakfast table. His creator account is unusually consistent across interviews. The drink pairs gin, orange liqueur, lemon and marmalade; despite the Martini name, it contains no vermouth. It also did not invent the idea of marmalade in a cocktail: Harry Craddock printed a Marmalade Cocktail in *The Savoy Cocktail Book* (1930). Calabrese’s contribution was the modern recipe, name and presentation.
Mixology View
The marmalade must dissolve fully and add bitter orange character, not sticky sweetness.