Mocktails Caffe Carnivale Espress0% Martini

I admire a lot of what Mocktails does; they create fabulous pre-mixed cocktails and they do it with verve and brio. This virgin espresso martini has won gold awards and yet…and yet. You would think a drink with the kick of caffeine (roughly the same amount as a double espresso) would be at least halfway to replicating the heft of an alcoholic cocktail, but something is missing in the mix. Yes, the coffee is there, and the slug of vanilla sitting just behind the bitterness of the coffee, but there seems to be an overweighting of sugar to my taste. It froths beautifully as a good cocktail but the net result is too close in taste to a very sweet coffee.