St Patrick's Day cannot be celebrated without enjoying a nice glass of Irish coffee, well I think so anyway! Today was my first attempt at making some and what a success! I used our Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee by Sea Island Coffee which I think nailed it!
Here is a brief history about this fabulous (and very underated) Irish tipple.
Foynes in County Limerick was one of Europe’s biggest airports in the 1940s. It was the main airport for Flying Boats and regularly received passengers from the U.S. including Hollywood stars and important political figures. A new restaurant was opened to cater to these guests. A chef called Joe Sheridan was in charge of the restaurant and he decided to add some whisky to coffee to warm his guests. Apparently when an American passenger first drank it he asked “Is this Brazilian coffee?” in which Joe replied “No, that’s Irish coffee”.
International success of the Irish coffee is credited to the travel writer Stanton Delaplane. After tasting the coffee, Stanton returned to the U.S. where he told his friend Jack Koeppler, the owner of Buena Vista about it. The pair tried to recreate the coffee without success. Since they could not recreate it, Buena Vista offered Joe a job in the States in which he accepted.
Here is also a recipe to make the best Irish coffee:
Ingredients
Irish whiskey
Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee by Sea Island or from
The Little Coffee Bag Company
Brown sugar
Whipped cream
Method
1. Heat your glass with some boiling water. Make sure you have a metal spoon in the glass when adding the boiling water to prevent the glass from cracking. Heating the glass keeps your Irish Coffee warm for longer.
2. Pour in a measure of Irish whiskey
3. Add some coffee
4. Add in a spoonful of sugar. Make sure the sugar is mixed into the coffee well. Check the bottom of the glass to make sure there no granules left at the bottom.
Now add the cream
5. Whisk some cream in a bowl. Don’t whisk the cream too stiffly or you won’t be able to pour it.
6. Turn a spoon upside down and place the tip of the spoon inside the coffee glass just on top of the coffee making sure that the edge of the spoon is touching the glass
7. Now slowly pour the whipped cream over the spoon. It should flow over the top of the spoon and land softly on top of the coffee. When you pour the cream gently it ensures that it doesn’t sink into the coffee
8. Sprinkle some chocolate on top of the cream
Voila!
Happy St Patrick's Day!
