No you don't if you prefer not to. However, the coffee helps to intensify the chocolate flavour and you can't taste it. If you can't get hold of espresso powder, you can substitute with a strong instant coffee instead. I recommend the barista-style instant coffees such as u003ca href=u0022https://amzn.to/3cjzfAIu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollowu0022u003eMilicanou003c/au003e.