Irish Coffee
Build; Warm up ∙ 4 min ∙ 8.9% 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.
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 Powdered sugar 2 bsp
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved
- Carefully float fresh chilled cream on top by pouring it over the back of a spoon
Tips
- Stir the sugar into the hot coffee and whiskey until fully dissolved before adding cream, or it settles gritty at the bottom.
- Chill the cream beforehand; warm or thin cream sinks into the coffee instead of sitting on top.
History
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?
A hot drink of coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar in a pre-heated glass, with chilled cream floated on top over the back of a spoon. The cream sits as a separate layer.
What alcohol makes Irish coffee?
Irish whiskey, the only spirit in the drink, stirred into the hot sweetened coffee before the cream goes on.
Is Irish coffee better with Jameson or Baileys?
Irish whiskey, such as Jameson. Baileys is an Irish cream liqueur; here the richness comes from the floated chilled cream instead.
How much whiskey do you put in Irish coffee?
50 ml per serving, stirred into 120 ml of hot coffee with the sugar before the cream goes on. That makes a drink of about 8.9% ABV.
