The first time I ever had Irish coffee it was what I now think of as faux Irish coffee; it was black coffee with a splash of Bailey's Irish Creme, and a squirt of whipped cream from a can. It was OK; not terrible, but I didn't want a second. The next time was at a hotel bar attached to a Shiloh Inn. That time, it was coffee with a shot of Jameson's, whipped cream from a can, and—I shudder even as I write this—a splash of Crème de Menthe on the cream.
There have been any number of sins committed with respect to the making of Irish coffee; for my money, the addition of Crème de Menthe leads the way, followed by the use of whipped cream. Personally, I'd rather the shot of Irish whiskey (Jameson's or Bushmills, among others, are fine) in a good cup of coffee with heavy cream—which, according to legend, is pretty much the way it got started. It's actually a funny story, though the humor in it is very laconic, and very Irish.
According to various sources, Irish coffee was invented by Joe Sheridan in 1943. Sheridan was then the chef at the old "flying-boat" air base in Foynes, County Clare, not far from Shannon Airport. The way I heard it, Sheridan added whiskey to hot coffee in an effort to warm up a group of Americans who were cold, wet, and miserable after a trip on one of the old PanAm "flying boats" and the joys of crossing the field in a wet Irish winter. Supposedly, the passengers asked if the coffee was Brazilian coffee, Sheridan said, no, it was Irish coffee. And thus, the beverage was canonized.
At this point, I'm going to interrupt my narrative, to let you know the ingredients of genuine Irish coffee:
- Hot high quality brewed black coffee (six ounces or so)
- 2 or 3 cubes of sugar per cup (or teaspoons; purists insist on sugar cubes)
- 1 to 2 shots/ounces of Irish whiskey (this is a religious issue; bear with me)
- Heavy whipping cream at room temperature (Don't Whip The Cream; buy it two days before you plan to use it)
Shortly thereafter, after Shannon Airport was built, and began to "claim" Irish coffee, a well-respected travel writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Stanton Delaplane fell in love with Irish coffee. Delaplane got together with the then owners of the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco, Jack Koeppler and George Freeberg, and the three attempted to re-create the Irish techniques, and ingredients, in the Irish coffee Delaplane had enjoyed in Ireland. It took a fair amount of work and research, not to mention personal experimentation (since the results had to be taste-tested). One of the difficulties was getting the cream to float; genuine Irish coffee does not involve whipped cream; rather, the cream floats in a heavy layer on top of the whisky and coffee mixture. They finally discovered, with some expert advice, that the cream needed to age for 48 hours. Initially, Buena Vista imported its own custom blended whiskey from Ireland, but back in 2006 they switched to using Tullamore Dew.
I am very much a Buena Vista Cafe Irish coffee believer. I've not had it with the previous custom blended Irish, but I like Tullamore Dew well enough to drink it on its own. I'll link to several recipes in a bit, but it's the sort of thing you adjust to suit personal taste. First though, I'm going to share the result of dedicated, empirical research.
Earlier I noted that the question of which Irish whiskey to use was a bit of an issue. Bushmill's is made in Northern Ireland; Jameson Irish whiskey is made in the Republic of Ireland. Thus the divide. Following the model of the Buena Vista Cafe, I prefer Tullamore Dew. I suggest that you could do worse by thoroughly investigating the various possibilities for yourself.
- Don't whip the cream, or use canned whipped cream. You want to have two distinct layers; one of thick cream, covering the top surface, and then the coffee and whiskey.
- The cream should float on top of the coffee. You'll have better luck with it if you first let it come to room temperature, then use a wire whisk and whisk it just until it gets slightly thick (or put it in a jar and shake it a bit, if you're making coffee for a group).
- Irish coffee is traditionally served in a clear footed glass. If you use glass, heat the glass first with hot water, before adding the hot coffee.
- Add the sugar, I prefer two cubes, or two teaspoons of sugar, to the bottom of the glass.
- Pour about six ounces of really good, really strong black, freshly brewed coffee on top of the sugar. Don't omit the sugar; it changes the coffee just enough to make the cream more likely to float. There are those who prefer brown sugar, or turbinado sugar; the Buena Vista uses cane sugar.
- Gently stir the coffee-sugar mixture.
- Add an ounce (or two, depending on taste) of Irish whiskey to the sweetened coffee. Purists will have gently heated the whiskey first.
- Slowly add the cream to the coffee, spooning it gently so that it floats.
- Do Not Stir the Coffee.
Here's the recipe that Joe Sheridan is said to have used. Here's a recipe accompanied by a video tutorial. I really am very fond of the Buena Vista version; you can tell that they've made a lot of Irish coffee if you watch this video.