Irish Coffee
Build; Warm up ∙ 4 min ∙ 8.3% ABV ∙
Irish Coffee is a warm cocktail of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar topped with a floated layer of chilled cream, served in a footed glass. The steaming base stays sharply defined beneath a cool, unstirred layer that melts in slowly, so each sip shifts from creamy to warm and faintly sweet.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-heat a glass
- Pour warm black coffee into the pre-heated glass
- Add Irish whiskey 50 ml and at least 1 teaspoon of sugar
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved
- Carefully float fresh chilled cream on top by pouring it over the back of a spoon
- Note: You may replace plain sugar with sugar syrup if desired
Tips
- Stir the sugar into the hot coffee and whiskey until fully dissolved before adding cream, or it settles gritty at the bottom.
- Pour the chilled cream over the back of a spoon slowly so it floats as a distinct layer instead of mixing in.
- Chill the cream beforehand; warm or thin cream sinks into the coffee instead of sitting on top.
History
Irish coffee combines hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar, topped with a float of cream. Several places claim to have shaped the modern recipe, but the drink is most often credited to Joe Sheridan, head chef at the restaurant in the Foynes flying boat terminal in County Limerick, Ireland, a stopover for transatlantic seaplane flights. In 1942 or 1943, he added whiskey to the coffee served to disembarking passengers chilled from a weather-delayed flight, creating a warming drink that became known as Irish coffee.
Coffee mixed with spirits already existed elsewhere, such as the French gloria a century earlier, but the Foynes version took on its own identity and name. The drink reached the United States through Stanton Delaplane, a San Francisco Chronicle travel writer who had tasted it at Shannon Airport, the successor to Foynes. Working with Jack Koeppler, owner of the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco, Delaplane helped introduce it there starting November 10, 1952, and Sheridan himself is said to have later worked at the Buena Vista as well.
In 1988, the National Standards Authority of Ireland published a formal standard for Irish coffee, later cancelled. The drink is recognized today by the International Bartenders Association as an official cocktail among its Contemporary Classics.
FAQ
What is an Irish coffee cocktail?
It is a warm drink made by building hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar together in a pre-heated glass, then floating chilled cream on top. The cream is poured over the back of a spoon so it sits as a separate layer rather than mixing into the coffee, giving the classic hot-and-cold, coffee-and-cream contrast.
What alcohol makes Irish coffee?
Irish whiskey is the alcohol in Irish Coffee, stirred into the hot sweetened coffee before the cream is floated on top. It is the only spirit in the drink; no other liqueur or spirit is added.
Is Irish coffee better with Jameson or Baileys?
Irish Coffee is made with Irish whiskey, such as Jameson, not Baileys, which is an Irish cream liqueur used in different drinks. Whiskey gives the drink its warming, spirited backbone, while the body and richness people associate with Baileys instead comes from the floated chilled cream in this recipe.
Is Irish coffee ok for diabetics?
Irish Coffee contains added sugar and cream, so a diabetic should account for both the carbohydrates from the sugar and the fat and calories from the cream, which bring this drink to roughly 221 kcal per serving. Using sugar syrup in place of granulated sugar, as this recipe allows, does not reduce the sugar content, so portion and frequency are the main considerations.
How much whiskey do you put in Irish coffee?
This recipe uses 50 ml of Irish whiskey per serving, stirred into the hot coffee with sugar before the cream is floated on top. That pour, combined with the coffee and cream, brings the finished drink to about 8.3% ABV.
