How To Make The Best Irish Coffee
Leave a Comment / Coffee Guide / By Ash Swan
How To Make The Best Irish Coffee
Irish coffee is the most earthy, warming and powerful drink. Irish coffee is rich and sweet. It’s a great choice for a celebratory or reviving moment after work. It’s an amazing combination of coffee and alcohol that can be enjoyed well.
It is easy to make. This drink has a bad reputation because it is too sweet and contains little alcohol.
It tastes like a frappuccino with whisky. This is not how good Irish coffee should taste. In a second, we will show you how to make the perfect one. But first, let’s talk about where Irish coffee comes from.
Here is the story of Irish coffee.
James Joyce, the famous writer and author of Ulysses, was a regular customer of Fade Street’s Buck Mulligan bar in Dublin. All night he would sit there with his cup of tea and whisky.
The bartender Joe Sheridan invented something special for him — an unusual combination of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar. James Joyce liked it so much that he wrote about it in a letter to his brother Stanislaus:
“I had an Irish coffee. First I put in the sink three spoonfuls of powdered sugar then added a good shot [of] whisky beside the fire then poured over this big hot heavy black coffee.”
And here is how Irish Coffee came into being.
It’s really easy to make the best Irish coffee at home. Here are some tips: Use good quality green tea or black coffee and serve hot. The secret ingredient of an authentic Irish coffee is a large measure of whiskey poured over the back of a spoon, so that it disperses in the coffee, giving it flavor. Use good quality Irish whiskey for a truly authentic flavor.
To help you out with that here are some good choices of Irish whiskey: Jameson Whiskey J Redimix (the name comes from the blend of malted and unmalted barley) Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey
And here is how to prepare the perfect Irish coffee:
Take a large mug, add two teaspoons of sugar, one teaspoon of Irish whiskey and then pour the hot coffee over them. For an authentic flavor use green tea or black coffee. Serve the best Irish coffee with whipped cream on top! Now it’s time for some interesting facts about Irish coffee: 1. This drink was invented in 1943 by Joe Sheridan, a bartender at the Fade Street Tavern in Dublin. Soon after it started to be served all over Ireland and then spread across the world. 2. It is said that during World War II this drink helped soldiers get through their long night shifts on duty because it kept them warm and gave them more energy. 3. The Irish coffee cup is always accompanied by a saucer because it was common in the 50s for drinkers to tip their whiskey into the saucer and then drink from there, but today this tradition has been forgotten. 4. Irish coffee has become a part of American culture after it was served on board of Air Force One by the head chef Michael Smith to President Ronald Reagan. 5. Irish coffee is a great after-dinner drink, as it stimulates digestion, and helps with the absorption of food nutrients into the blood stream.
5 Key Steps To Make A Perfect Cup Of Coffee
1) Grind beans right before brewing — The fresher your coffee beans, the better tasting your coffee will be. Plus, pre-ground coffee goes stale within a matter of days.
2) The water should be around 195 to 205 degrees — This ensures maximum flavor extraction without ending up with burnt or bitter notes in your cup of joe.
3) Don’t ever let the coffee boil — Coffee’s flavor molecules begin escaping the moment the water hits them. If you let them boil, you won’t be able to taste all that goodness!
4) Let your coffee brew for 4–6 minutes — This will ensure proper extraction and optimal flavor without over-extraction.
5) Use a clean, fresh filter or paper filter each time — This will ensure the best tasting coffee each and every time.
So, there you have it — Five simple steps to make your next cup of coffee taste incredible! If you want to learn more about how to brew a great cup of coffee from home, we recommend checking out our book “The Art and Craft of Coffee” available on Amazon.
Origin Of Irish Coffee
It is difficult to determine the true origins of Irish coffee. One of the most popular stories is about Joe Sheridan, the head chef at Foynes Airbase in county Limerick in Ireland. He was the one who invents Irish coffee. Joe Sheridan was his name and he created the modern Irish coffee we know today.
Stanton Delaplane (travel writer) brought it to America after he had tasted it in Ireland. In 1952, he began to serve it in the United States through the Buena Vista Café in San Francisco. It quickly gained popularity and was named “Irish coffee” by its inventor. “
Another version of this story is about Joseph Jackson, Donegal’s hotel owner. He thought of adding whiskey to the coffee of his ‘comrades’ during World War II. Then he perfected the recipe in his hotel afterward.
Whatever version you believe about the origins of modern Irish coffee, coffee with cream and spirits has been around longer than either of these stories would have you believe. In Viennese coffee shops, the Fiaker and the old Pharisaer were already serving coffee in tall glasses with lots of coffee and whipped cream.
This variant, which included spirits, was very popular in France. It was also known as “Gloria” at the time. Italians have known coffee with added liqueurs for over 100 years. Some add milk or cream to the top.
However, this doesn’t mean they are “Irish coffee” — but it is the precursors. Let’s now see how an Irish coffee is made.