Irish Coffee – Drink up Folks!

This is a guest post by Tara Alley. Learn more about how you can guest post for Daily Shot Of Coffee.

Before you get worried, this is just a guest post, not an actual post, so that right in itself makes advocating drinking alcoholic beverages on a coffee site completely okay.  Not to mention it is St. Patricks day this week.  Not to mention this is a coffee-related adult beverage.  So then, let’s look into this a bit more, shall we?

I drank my very first Irish Coffee in a superb, hole-in-the-wall pub in Salamanca, Spain.  I’m going to call my Irish Coffee authentic, regardless of the fact that it came from Spain, because, well, Spain is closer to Ireland than, say, the U.S., so either way, it’s more authentic than anything I’ll find here right?  Maybe not, but just go with me.  There’s something fantastical about this drink, and I don’t even like whiskey, so that really says something.  Perhaps it’s the equal parts cream and sugar that I like?  Either way, I fell in love with the drink that night.  So much so that soon my fellow colleagues and I bought our own ingredients and decided to concoct them on our very own.  I couldn’t even get the drink down.  And that is how I know the first was authentic.

Anyway, none of this is the point of where I was really going with this blog. I started off with the goal of explaining to you the history of Irish Coffee.  And, if I bore you, well, you can always remedy the solution with drinking one?

Here’s the problem.  No one really knows the history of Irish coffee.  But, the most “widely” accepted version, as re-told by me, goes something like this:  Back in the 1940’s there were a bunch of people stuck on an airplane.  Tragic already, I know.  On a trip from Ireland to NY, nasty weather hit and caused the probably very stressed and distressed pilot to give up and head back.  Like all good Irish, the lovely folks back at the home airport decided to greet the returning passengers with delicious food and beverages to make them feel better.  (Did I mention I love the Irish?) So, a certain Mr. Joe Sheridan whipped them up up some hot coffee and whiskey, topping it off with some fresh whipped cream.  Really, what better way is there to welcome the cold, angry and stranded?

One ingenious passenger had the tenacity to ask if he was drinking “Brazilian coffee” – to which Sheridan replied, “No, that is Irish Coffee.”  And there you have it, Irish Coffee, officially in existence.  And yes, now, I know what you’re thinking. You wanna know the real recipe, straight from Joe Sheridan himself?  Here goes:

The Original Irish Coffee
Joe, Sheridan, Foynes Flying Boat Museum

Cream – Rich as an Irish Brogue

Coffee- Strong as Friendly Hand

Sugar – Sweet as the tongue of a Rogue

Irish Whiskey – smooth as the Wit of the Land

If you don’t think you’ll be able to succeed with that particular recipe (good luck), try this one, I call it “Straight Up Irish Coffee”:

Irish Whiskey:  2 ounces
Brown Sugar:   2 teaspoons
Strong, black coffee:  5-6 ounces

Stir thoroughly and top off with a layer of heavy whipping cream.

 

Or, for one more option, which I deem “My Kind of Irish Coffee” try this one:

Black coffee:  6 ounces

Brown sugar: 1 tablespoon

Irish whiskey: 1 ounce

Baileys Irish cream .5 ounce

Heavy cream (lots!)

Slainte!  (that’s Cheers, in Gaelic, of course)

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Tara Alley is a freelance writer out of Orange County, CA.  She currently works alongside Coffee Home Direct, where you can find her discussing fascinating things like coffee pods! And her favorite: one cup coffee makers! You can also follow her on Twitter @hopesiempre for all the rest of her thoughts.

Photo by Chris Blakeley.