How to make the perfect Irish Coffee

With St Patrick’s Day just around the corner, many bars, pubs and other establishments will be gearing up for a day of booze-infused revelry.

Added: 14th March 2018

For some reason, the festival is no longer celebrated solely in Ireland, and festivities are set to take place across the UK as well as in various locations throughout the world. The original meaning behind the festival was the Roman Catholic feast day of Ireland’s patron Saint, though for most people this has long been forgotten and the day (or often, entire weekend) is now purely about getting drunk and having a great time with friends and strangers alike. For those who choose to acknowledge this ‘cultural’ occasion in a slightly more sophisticated manner, we recommend making yourself a delicious Irish coffee, and so here are our top tips for getting it just right.

Get the Coffee right

Of course, our interests lie in all things coffee, from our selection of commercial coffee machines to our range of Café BONté coffee beans, so our first priority is that you use good coffee. This is often overlooked in the creation of Irish coffee, since the other ingredients contribute largely to the flavour, and so some think that the quality of the coffee is unimportant. Naturally, we disagree, and insist that you use good, strong coffee to combine well with the other ingredients and create the perfect blend of flavours. It’s also imperative that the coffee is really hot, so get brewing immediately before you make your drink. You can help to keep the drink as a whole a bit hotter by warming the glass beforehand- just fill it with boiling water whilst you’re getting everything ready.

Keep it Sweet

Irish coffee is traditionally made using brown sugar, but combining this with a dash of white sugar as well can help achieve the perfect level of sweetness when combined with the coffee and whiskey. We recommend that you retain this sweetness within the coffee, and as such suggest using unsweetened cream for the top to ensure you don’t overload on the sugar and ruin the flavour.

Irish Whiskey

This should be another given, since we are talking about St Paddy’s day after all! Irish whiskey is really the only way to go, with its smooth texture and sweetness which will combine perfectly with your strong coffee, countering its bitterness. Irish whiskey doesn’t have to cost a fortune, but it goes without saying that you should treat yourself to a nice one for the occasion; for goodness sake don’t ruin your drink with bad booze!

Perfect Finish

As with anything, you want your Irish coffee not only to taste amazing, but also to be aesthetically pleasing. A key way to achieve this is to keep the whipped cream on the surface of the coffee, rather than letting it mix in with the liquid ingredients. This can be hard to master, but it’s a skill that can be attained with practice. Serving your drink in a nice coffee glass will also help complete the look.

Once you’ve put it all together, sit back, relax, and enjoy your St Paddy’s day tipple in style and sophistication. Or perhaps an Irish coffee will be the perfect hair of the dog for the morning after.