St. Agrestis · Cocktail library
Irish Coffee
Hot coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar under a floated layer of cream.
Go to the recipe ↓Irish Coffee is hot coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar stirred together in a preheated glass, with cream floated on top. The real choice is the cream. The IBA specification pours it thick and chilled. Difford's Guide warms and aerates it first, in a smaller drink sweetened with brown sugar syrup.
IBA: chilled cream float
Contains alcohol
Ingredients
Original recipe quantities.
See the proportions
Share of the measured liquid, before ice. Unmeasured additions and non-volume ingredients are excluded.
Method as published
- Preheat an Irish coffee glass.
- Pour in the hot black coffee.
- Add the Irish whiskey and at least one teaspoon of sugar, then stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Hold a spoon, back side up, just above the surface of the coffee. Pour the fresh, thick, chilled cream slowly over it so the cream floats as a separate layer without mixing in.
Garnish None specified by the source.
- The source lists 1 teaspoon of sugar, but its method calls for at least one teaspoon. Treat the sugar as a minimum to adjust separately, not a fixed line that scales exactly.
- The source allows sugar syrup in place of plain sugar but gives no syrup quantity.
Recipe source: International Bartenders Association ↗
Difford's Guide: warm whipped cream
Contains alcohol
Ingredients
Original recipe quantities.
See the proportions
Share of the measured liquid, before ice. Unmeasured additions and non-volume ingredients are excluded.
Method as published
- Fill a heat-proof toddy glass with very hot water and let it stand to preheat.
- Prepare the garnish: freshly grated nutmeg, three coffee beans, or both.
- In a separate container, warm the cream and whip or shake it. A milk frother can heat and whip it in one step.
- Pour the hot water out of the glass.
- Pour in the Irish whiskey, brown sugar syrup and hot filter coffee, then give the mixture a brief stir.
- Float the warmed, aerated cream over the back of a warmed spoon.
- Finish with the garnish.
Garnish Freshly grated nutmeg dusted on top, three floated coffee beans, or both.
- The source's syrup is demerara, muscovado or brown sugar syrup made at 2 parts sugar to 1 part water.
Recipe source: Difford's Guide ↗
Cold cream or warm cream
IBA specifies the cream only as fresh, thick and chilled, and gives no whipping step; it goes straight over a spoon held just above the coffee. Difford's moves the work earlier. You heat and whip or shake the cream before the drink is poured, which calls for a frother, a shaker or a whisk, plus a warmed spoon.
Sweetening differs as well. IBA sets a minimum of one teaspoon of sugar and dissolves it fully, with syrup as an option. Difford's measures 10 ml of a 2:1 brown sugar syrup and calls only for a brief stir. Difford's also uses less of each liquid: 30 ml whiskey to 60 ml coffee, where IBA uses 50 ml to 120 ml.