Irish Coffee

Irish Coffee

Like most drinks with some age on them, there’s controversy over the origins of Irish Coffee. Some insist it was created by some enterprising workers at the Shannon Airport trying to keep overseas passengers warm.
Others claim the drink was invented the long-closed Dolphin bar in Dublin. In any case, there’s no argument that the drink comes to the US through a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune. The year was 1948, the drink’s author, the wonderfully named Clementine Paddleford.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons brown sugar or white sugar
Strong brewed coffee, ideally dark roast beans, hot
Irish whiskey (such as Old Bushmill’s or Jamesons)
Heavy whipping cream, cold

Directions:

Make a pot of strong coffee.

Fill a heavy glass goblet with hot water to heat it up, then pour out the water.

Add the sugar to the glass.

Pour the strong, hot coffee over the sugar, to fill about 3/4 of the glass. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Add 1 ½ oz Irish whiskey (Old Bushmill’s, Jamesons) with a bit of room left in the glass for the cream.

Using a whisk, in a small bowl lightly whip heavy whipping cream until the cream is slightly thickened. Take care not to over whip (we’re not going for whipped cream).

Turn a spoon upside down (bowl of the spoon facing down), and pour the thickened cream down the back of the spoon, layering onto the top of the coffee. 

Don’t stir the cream into the coffee, to keep the layers visible. Serve immediately.