Irish coffee

Different variations of coffee cocktails pre-date the now-classic Irish coffee by at least 100 years.

From the mid-19th century, the {{lang|de|Pharisäer}} and the {{lang|de|Fiaker}} were served in Viennese coffee houses; both were coffee cocktails served in glass, topped with whipped cream. The former was also known in northern Germany and Denmark around that time. Around 1900, the coffee cocktail menu in the Viennese cafés also included {{lang|de|Kaisermelange}}, Maria Theresia, {{lang|de|Biedermeier-Kaffee}} and a handful of other variations on the theme.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}

In 19th-century France, a mixture of coffee and spirits was called a gloria.

• "{{Lang|fr|Un trait de son caractère était de payer généreusement quinze francs par mois pour le gloria qu'il prenait au dessert.}}" (Balzac, Le Père Goriot, 1834, I.){{Full citation needed |date=September 2024}}{{undue inline |date=September 2024}}
• "{{Lang|fr|Il aimait le gros cidre, les gigots saignants, les glorias longuement battus.}}" (Flaubert, Madame Bovary, 1857.){{Full citation needed |date=September 2024}}{{undue inline|date=September 2024}}

Several places claim to have developed the modern recipe in the 1950s. One version is attributed to a Joe Sheridan, head chef at the restaurant and coffee shop in the Foynes Airbase{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gF0TDQAAQBAJ&q=Airbase&pg=PT93|title=Little Book of Tyrone|first=Cathal|last=Coyle|date=1 December 2014|publisher=The History Press|isbn=9780750962841|via=Google Books}}{{cite web|url=http://www.skynet.ie/~dan/war/foynes.htm|title=The War Room - Foynes Flying Boat Base|website=www.skynet.ie|access-date=2018-01-12|archive-date=2017-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115121113/http://www.skynet.ie/%7Edan/war/foynes.htm|url-status=dead}} flying boat terminal (about {{convert |15|km|disp=or}} from present-day Shannon Airport, County Clare).{{Citation | url = http://flyingboatmuseum.com/irishcoffee.html | publisher = Foynes Flying Boat Museum | title = Our Irish Coffee Heritage | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110122040624/http://flyingboatmuseum.com/irishcoffee.html | archive-date = 2011-01-22 }}. In 1942 or 1943,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpDO0iGiyegC&q=Sheridan&pg=PA46|title=Boozy Brunch: The Quintessential Guide to Daytime Drinking|first=Peter|last=Joseph|date=12 January 2018|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781589796782|via=Google Books}}{{cite web|url=http://www.irishcoffeefestival.com:80/history_coffee.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030215092733/http://www.irishcoffeefestival.com/history_coffee.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 February 2003|title=Irish Coffee Festival|date=15 February 2003|access-date=6 September 2020}} he added whiskey to the coffee of some disembarking passengers.{{Citation | url = http://www.europeancuisines.com/Irish-Coffee | title = European Cuisines | contribution = Irish Coffee}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.flyingboatmuseum.com/irish-coffee-center/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112013911/https://www.flyingboatmuseum.com/irish-coffee-center/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2018-01-12 |title=Foynes Irish Coffee Centre |website=Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum|access-date=2018-01-12}}

Stanton Delaplane, a travel writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, maintains he brought Irish coffee to the United States after drinking it at Shannon Airport. His version is that he worked with the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco to start serving it on November 10, 1952.{{Cite news | last = Nolte | first = Carl | title = San Francisco: Coffee, cream, sugar and — Irish whiskey... but Buena Vista changed brands | newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle | publisher = SF Gate | date = November 22, 2006 | access-date = 2007-07-09 | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/22/BAGM1MI1FP1.DTL}}{{Cite news | last = Nolte | first = Carl | title = The man who brought Irish coffee to America | newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle | publisher = SF Gate | date = November 9, 2008 | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/08/BAMB140VVQ.DTL}}{{Cite news | last = King | first = John | title = SF bar celebrates 56 years of Irish coffee | newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle | publisher = SF Gate | date = November 9, 2008 | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/09/BAUR1411MT.DTL}} Sheridan later emigrated to work at the Buena Vista Cafe.{{cite web|url=http://flyingboatmuseum.com/irishcoffee_chef.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516164830/http://flyingboatmuseum.com/irishcoffee_chef.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 May 2011|title=Foynes Flying Boat Museum|date=16 May 2011}}

File:Making of Irish coffee on Coffee Right in Brno, Czech Republic.jpg

File:Preparing Irish Coffee.jpg

Irish whiskey and at least one level teaspoon of sugar are poured over black coffee and stirred in until fully dissolved.{{cite web

| title = Joe Sheridan's Original Irish Coffee Recipe

| publisher = CoffeeCakes.com

| url = http://www.coffeecakes.com/joe-sheridans-irish-coffee.html

| access-date = 2007-07-09}} The sugar is essential for floating liquid cream on top Thick cream is carefully poured over the back of a spoon initially held just above the surface of the coffee and gradually raised a little until the entire layer is floated.{{cite web | title = Traditional Irish Coffee Recipe | publisher = Good food Ireland | url = http://www.goodfoodireland.ie/index.cfm/section/Recipes/key/113 | access-date = 2009-12-08 | archive-date = 2009-11-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091125032239/http://www.goodfoodireland.ie/index.cfm/section/Recipes/key/113 | url-status = dead }}

In 1988, the National Standards Authority of Ireland published Irish Standard I.S. 417: Irish Coffee. The standard has been cancelled at least as of 2020.{{efn |The standard can be obtained from Standards IE.{{Citation | url = http://www.standards.ie/ | title = Standards | place = IE}}.}}

Although whiskey, coffee and cream are the basic ingredients in all Irish coffee, there are variations in preparation: the choice of coffee and the methods used for brewing it differ significantly. The use of espresso machines or fully automatic coffee brewers is now typical: the coffee is either a caffè americano (espresso diluted with hot water) or some kind of filter coffee, often made using a coffee capsule.

The cream used in some bars to make what is sold as "Irish coffee" is sometimes sprayed from a can. Some bartenders gently shake fresh cream to achieve a smooth layer on top of the coffee.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}

In Spain, Irish coffee (café irlandés) is sometimes served with a bottom layer of whiskey, a separate coffee layer, and a layer of cream on top;{{Citation | url = http://www.gastronomiavasca.net/recipes/recipe?id=107 | title = Gastronomia vasca | contribution = Recipes | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20031004021838/http://www.gastronomiavasca.net/recipes/recipe?id=107 | archive-date = 2003-10-04 }}. special devices are sold for making it.

Some bars in Southeast Asia serve a cocktail of iced coffee and whiskey, sometimes without cream, under the name "Irish coffee".

Many drinks of hot coffee with a distilled spirit, and cream floated on top—liqueur coffees—are given names derived from Irish coffee, although the names are not standardised. Irish cream coffee (also known as Baileys coffee) can be considered a variant of Irish coffee, but involves the use of Irish cream as a "pre-mixed" substitute for the whisky, cream and sugar. Jamaican coffee would be expected to be made with rum; Highland coffee, also called Gaelic coffee, with Scotch whisky; Russian coffee with vodka;{{cite web |url=https://www.delonghi.com/en-us/products/coffee-and-espresso/recipes/specialty-coffee-drinks/russian-coffee |title=Russian coffee |publisher=DeLonghi |year=2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508060131/https://www.delonghi.com/en-us/products/coffee-and-espresso/recipes/specialty-coffee-drinks/russian-coffee |archive-date=2021-05-08 |access-date=2024-09-09 }} and Mexican coffee with tequila.

• Liqueur coffee
• Rüdesheimer Kaffee
• List of coffee drinks
• List of hot beverages
• Caffeinated alcoholic drink

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• {{Cite web | url = http://www.thebuenavista.com/home/irishcoffee.html | title = The Irish Coffee Story | publisher = The Buena Vista Cafe | place = San Francisco, CA, US}}

{{subject bar |auto=y |portal1=Ireland |portal2=Coffee |portal3=Drink}}

{{coffee|nocat=1}}

{{IBACocktails}}

{{Ireland topics}}

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Category:Alcoholic coffee drinks

Category:Cocktails with whisky

Category:Irish alcoholic drinks