Irish Coffee
Hot below, cool above.
Hot coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar beneath a layer of cold cream that is never stirred in. You sip it through the cream, alternating the warmth of the coffee with its cool softness.
- IBA · Contemporary Classics
- After dinner
- Built
- Glass
- Irish coffee glass
- Method
- Built
- Strength
- Light
- Time
- 5 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Ice
- No ice
Ingredients
Measures for 1 serving
-
Hot coffee
120 ml
-
Irish whiskey
50 ml
-
Sugar
1 tsp
-
Cream
50 ml
Proportions
How to make
- Warm the glass with hot water, then empty it.
- Pour in the hot coffee.
- Add the Irish whiskey.
- Add the sugar.
- Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour the cold cream over the back of a spoon so it floats.
- Serve at once, without stirring.
The story
Origins
ProbableA plausible account, without definitive proof.
According to the most accepted tradition, Irish Coffee was born at Foynes, on the Shannon estuary, where transatlantic flying boats stopped in the 1940s. Chef Joe Sheridan is said to have added whiskey to hot coffee to warm the passengers, calling it "Gaelic coffee"; the exact year varies between sources. The first written accounts date from December 1945, when an American journalist described it at Shannon Airport. It reached the United States through Stanton Delaplane of the San Francisco Chronicle: according to the Buena Vista Cafe, on 10 November 1952 he and owner Jack Koeppler began trying to recreate it, struggling at length to make the cream float. In 1955 Delaplane interviewed Sheridan, who claimed the invention.
Sources (4)
Taste profile
- Creamy
- 4 out of 5
- Bitter
- 2 out of 5
- Sweet
- 2 out of 5
- Strong
- 2 out of 5