Asking For Cheese On Your Cocktail Will Always Be A Letdown

From classic lasagna and Parmesan au gratin potatoes to hearty eggplant Parmesan and stuffed peppers, there are many recipes, where presumably Parmesan feels right at home. And it's likely that whether it's grated, shredded, or broken into small pieces, your taste buds will thank you for combining these recipes with this beloved Italian cheese. But in recent weeks, the latest viral Instagram and TikTok trend couples Parmesan cheese with a partner you may not expect: an espresso martini. The Internet has been abuzz with videos and posts recommending that you try grating Parmesan cheese on top of the vodka martini. On TikTok alone, a search for "Parmesan espresso martini" now has at least 323.7 million views.

In a Twitter poll, NBC's Marcus Washington asked Twitter users, "There is a new trend going around and I want to know if you'd try it. It's an espresso martini topped with shredded Parmesan cheese. What do you think?" Out of 93 participants, 86% said, "No, I'll pass," while the remaining 14% of users said, "Yes, I'd try it." Despite this negative response, headlines such as "Don't Knock the Parmesan Espresso Martini Before You Try It," "I Tried TikTok's Parmesan Espresso Martini & It Was Pretty Grate,"  and "I tried an espresso martini with Parmesan cheese — 'It's f – – king good'" suggest that there may be something to pairing grated Parmesan cheese with espresso, coffee liqueur, and vodka. 

In addition to Internet users testing out the recipe, some bartenders also recommend this seemingly strange pairing. Former bartender Phoebe Wyburd told the Irish Examiner, "Things like Parmesan have an oiliness to them that coats your mouth and pairs nicely with rich flavours like coffee and chocolate." She added, "People are loving umami [a savory taste] in cocktails, people don't want sickly sweet cocktails anymore. It was always citrus or sweet and no in-between in the past." 

Jonathan David Stanyard, a consultant for The Bitter Gringo Co. whose Instagram post helped the Parmesan Espresso Martini go viral told Food & Wine, "The concept [of pairing coffee and cheese] goes back centuries. Throughout Latin America, people have long-enjoyed the classic combinations of Cafe con Queso and Chocolate con Queso, and I was reminded of this flavor combination while conversing with Carlos Ruiz. With this thought, I walked away from that conversation thinking that I could shave parmesan onto my Espresso Martini." After posting a video making the drink on Instagram, he received 1.2 million views in a little over a week. Stanyard added that certain qualities would make this cocktail more successful. "Use an aged parmesan cheese — 24 months is excellent," he said.

While this combination may be winning over some TikTok users who are whipping up the recipe at home, asking for grated cheese on your cocktail at a bar may not go over too well. Unlike some of the latest headlines, certain Reddit users have a different take on the Parmesan Espresso Martini. In one thread, the original poster placed a photo of the drink. Redditors responded with "Pretty sure Italy is gonna declare war on wherever you're from for this," "Congratulations, you made yourself an enemy of Italy," "I thought this was a joke and that was shredded coconut, which honestly might not be half bad," and "Congrats. This has made me give up drinking." One user who tried the combination wrote, "It tasted like salty, cheesy coffee, and yes that's as bad as it sounds."

Paul Hagopian tested ordering the drink at a local bar for Food52 and writes, "Within minutes, an espresso martini covered in thick, flavorless, pre-grated Parmesan sat before me. It was not good. The cheese—which looked more like potato sticks than grated Parm—didn't dissolve into the foam. The intended bitterness-mellowing effects were nowhere to be found. And while they couldn't have been nicer, the bartender probably thinks I'm both strange and annoying." Hagopian concludes that while a better-quality Parmesan cheese may have changed his opinion, you should probably test out this cheesy cocktail at home first.