Irish coffee

Irish coffee (caife Gaelach in Irish) combines Irish whiskey, hot coffee, and sugar, stirred together and topped with cream. The drink is meant to be sipped through the cream layer. Coffee-and-spirit mixtures existed long before the modern version: in 19th-century France, a blend of coffee and liquor was known as a gloria.

Several places claim to have created the current recipe in the 1950s. One story credits Joe Sheridan, head chef at the Foynes Airbase flying boat terminal in County Clare. Around 1942 or 1943, he added whiskey to coffee for passengers disembarking from a flight. Another account involves travel writer Stanton Delaplane, who said he had Irish coffee at Shannon Airport and worked with San Francisco’s Buena Vista Cafe to serve it starting November 10, 1952. Sheridan later moved to the U.S. to work at that same cafe.

To prepare it, pour Irish whiskey and at least one teaspoon of sugar over black coffee, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Then carefully pour thick cream over the back of a spoon held just above the coffee’s surface, gradually raising the spoon until a full layer floats on top.

In 1988, the National Standards Authority of Ireland published I.S. 417: Irish Coffee, though that standard was cancelled by 2020. While whiskey, coffee, and cream are constant, preparation varies: the coffee may be brewed with espresso machines or automatic brewers, often as a caffè americano or filter coffee from capsules. In Spain, café irlandés is sometimes served with distinct layers—whiskey at the bottom, coffee in the middle, cream on top—and special devices are sold for this. Many hot coffee drinks with distilled spirits and floated cream borrow the “Irish coffee” naming pattern, though names aren’t standardized. Irish cream coffee (or Baileys coffee) substitutes Irish cream for the whiskey, sugar, and cream. Other variants include Jamaican coffee (rum), Highland or Gaelic coffee (Scotch whisky), Russian coffee (vodka), and Mexican coffee (tequila).