Irish Coffee
On a cold winter’s evening in the early 1940s, a group of travel-weary Americans disembarked from a plane at the ‘flying boat station’ in Foynes, a small town in midwest Ireland.(Shannon International Airport situated nearby was built later).
The chef preparing their coffee turned a little ingenious and added some whiskey to the coffee, to give them some much needed warmth. On being asked, whether it was Brazilian coffee, they were told it was ‘Irish Coffee’.
And thus, the famous ‘Irish Coffee’ was born. The chef, Joseph Sheridan, credited with making the first drink, may hardly have known that his invention would become so famous.
Its fame soon spread across the oceans to the United States. In 1952, Jack Koeppler, who was then the owner of the restaurant ‘Buena Vista’ in San Francisco, was so intrigued by it, that he asked travel writer Stanton Delaplane to help him recreate the ‘Irish Coffee’ magic. The Irish Coffee served in the Buena Vista today is largely the result of their efforts and creativity.
What really is ‘Irish Coffee’?
It is prepared by first pouring black coffee into a mug and then adding whiskey and sugar to it. Thick cream is then carefully added to it, ensuring that it floats on the top. Coffee is then sipped through the cream.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 5:32 am and is filed under Whiskey Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.