Even though I got over my poor Irish Coffee experience, it comes as no surprise to me that two gentlemen went on a much more involved quest to bring a combination of flavors that they loved – and became downright obsessed over – to bring Irish Coffee to the United States. They too had been taken captive by its sensuous and comforting allure and journeyed from San Francisco to Shannon just to learn the right way to make it. Their story, and the story of the man who created Irish coffee, would be forever linked to the beverage’s history.
The story begins like all great legends, on a dark and stormy night, this one in the winter of 1942. Joe Sheridan, a County Tyrone native, was working as a chef at Foynes Airbase in Limerick, Ireland, when a call came through that a plane traveling from Foynes to New York had hit bad weather and decided to turn back after struggling against the storm for five hours in the air. Sheridan and his staff were asked to prepare food and beverages to make the flight’s passengers feel more comfortable when they arrived back at the airport.
Sheridan got to work creating something special to help warm the passengers, a combination of strong, hot coffee and whiskey topped off with a dash of freshly whipped cream. One of the passengers asked Sheridan if they were drinking Brazilian coffee. “No,” he replied. “That’s Irish Coffee.”
From Erin’s shores to the San Francisco Bay
One of those passengers eagerly warming himself with Sheridan’s creation was travel writer Stanton Delaplane. When Delaplane arrived home in San Francisco, he described the whiskey and coffee beverage to Buena Vista Café owner Jack Koeppler. The two sat up half the night trying out different versions of the drink, but found time after time that the whiskey didn’t taste the same and the cream would not float. So Koeppler headed to the source: he traveled to Ireland and met Sheridan, who showed him the proper way to make Irish Coffee.
When Koeppler returned home, he was confident that he’d finally selected the best whiskey and found a way to make the cream float by choosing a specific type that had been aged for exactly 48 hours and frothed to a specific consistency.
Though Sheridan had taken his famous drink with him when he’d left Foynes Airbase to work at the newly constructed Shannon International Airport, the Buena Vista Café quickly became the American home to Irish Coffee. In 1952, Sheridan left Ireland to come and serve his world-famous creation to the yanks, side by side with Koeppler at the Buena Vista Café.
A tradition as Irish as shamrocks and soda bread
Even today, if you order an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Café, it will be made with the same ingredients that Koeppler and Sheridan obsessed over 60 years ago. The café even recently set out to set the first Guinness record for the world’s largest Irish Coffee. Foynes has also paid homage to the drink it helped bring into the world with an annual Irish Coffee Festival in years past.
If this story has inspired you to make your own Irish Coffee at home, you’ll want to make it they way they do at the Buena Vista Café. Start by heating up a stemmed whiskey goblet or even a nice glass coffee mug with a handle. Be sure to use one jigger of genuine Irish whiskey like Bushmills or Jamesons. Spoon in one teaspoon of brown sugar and then fill with hot coffee, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Finally, you can make your whipped cream float perfectly on top of the drink by pouring it slowly over the back of a spoon.
It doesn’t take much to fall in love with this drink. One sip and you’re instantly transported to a quiet pub in Cork or the rocky Cliffs of Moher – exactly what I was going for before I got my salty surprise. If you ever forget the ingredients, just remember Sheridan’s own quote about his famous recipe:
Cream as rich as an Irish brogue
Coffee as strong as a friendly hand
Sugar as sweet as the tongue of a rogue
Whiskey as smooth as the wit of the land
About the author
Article is a courtesy of Andreanne Hamel – Looking for an espresso machine review? Find automatic espresso coffee machine and superautomatic espresso machine reviews at my-best-coffee.com.
