Of all the combinations of coffee and liquor, Irish coffee is perhaps the most popular worldwide. Making Irish coffee is simple, but to achieve a perfect Irish coffee, you need to use the right ingredients and, above all, follow the steps in strict order.
In this article, we will go over a little bit of history, the essential steps to know how to make Irish coffee quickly and easily. Finally, we will also provide some professional tips to raise your cocktail to the highest level – ideal for cold autumn and winter evenings!
History of Irish coffee
Irish coffee originated in the 1940s. It is curious how, although coffee has been combined with liquor since practically the beginning of the century, it was not until well into the latter that this cocktail, which has ended up being one of the most popular, was first consumed.
Irish coffee comes about almost by chance, as an anecdote. The “culprit” was Joe Sheridan, a modest employee at Shannon airport in Ireland. In the middle of winter, one of the PanAm flights was severely delayed. To ease the cold and the waiting of the passengers, this good man decided to combine coffee and whisky and offer it to the suffering customers.
Years later, the American writer Stanton Delaplane tried this unknown (to them) Irish Coffee at the aforementioned Shannon airport and was so satisfied that he decided to imitate it and market it in the United States as well. From then on, the story is well known.
Irish coffee – Recipe
To prepare Irish coffee, we only need four ingredients, and although the measures and proportions of each may vary, the ideal is that the final result is about 150 or 160 millilitres. We are going to explain how Irish coffee is prepared, taking into account this final measure.
What are the ingredients of Irish coffee?
Here they are:
- Whisky (better Irish, of course) – 40 ml.
- Very hot espresso coffee – 80 ml. As an alternative measure, you can have two cups of espresso.
- Milk cream, or whipped cream if not available – 30 ml.
- Brown sugar – one spoonful. If possible, use brown sugar.
How to prepare an Irish coffee in 4 steps
To know how to prepare Irish coffee, it is important not only to have the ingredients mentioned but to prepare them in the right order. If you do not follow the order of the steps, the final taste of our Irish coffee will not be the same. And the established order is purposely designed to make sure that the hot ingredients cool down and the whole set ends up at the perfect temperature.
Let’s get started:
- Whip the cream. It should be thick, but not completely whipped. The irrefutable proof is to ensure that it does not fall off the spoon.
- Heat the whisky. Put it in a saucepan with the sugar, and be patient. Pour it into the glass just before it reaches boiling point.
- Pour the two freshly made espressos (they should be hot) into the glass, and mix them well with the whisky.
- Finally, add the cream you prepared in the first step. Do not mix it with the coffee and the whisky: the cream must crown the whole.
Irish coffee – How it is made
If you have any doubts about the previous explanations, here you have a very illustrative video to learn how to prepare an Irish coffee in just a few minutes.
Irish coffee – How it is prepared (with class and distinction)
Finally, if you want to make a good Irish coffee with attention to detail and approach the work of a professional barista, take note of the following advanced tips:
- How do you make a three-colour Irish coffee? Avoid mixing the liquids. For them, help yourself with a teaspoon when serving the coffee over the whisky in the glass. Pour the coffee on the spoon, and not directly on the whisky, to make one slide over the other.
- Use a transparent glass of the right size, so that the cream is just at the edge of the glass.
- Stir the sugar well with the whisky in the saucepan, so that it dissolves well and there are no loose grains.
- Warm the glass before serving the ingredients. Just fill it with hot water, wait a few seconds, and then pour the water out.
