Whiskey · Classic · Creamy
Irish Coffee Recipe
Hot coffee and Irish whiskey topped with cream — a nightcap and a pick-me-up in one glass. A hot, whiskey-spiked coffee finished with a float of barely-whipped cream — dessert, nightcap and pick-me-up rolled into one glass, best sipped slowly through the cream on a cold evening.
- Prep Time
- 1 min
- Method
- Stirred
- Glass
- Footed Irish coffee glass
- Strength
- Balanced
Every recipe on Sipped Right is tested for taste and balance before it's published.
Last updated October 20, 2026
About the Irish Coffee
Irish coffee is a hot cocktail of Irish whiskey, brown sugar and hot coffee, topped with a float of lightly whipped cream, created in 1943 by chef Joe Sheridan at Foynes Airport in County Limerick, Ireland, to warm a planeload of cold, weather-delayed transatlantic passengers. Travel writer Stanton Delaplane brought the drink to San Francisco after tasting it in Shannon, and worked with Jack Koeppler, owner of the Buena Vista Café, to recreate it — though the pair reportedly struggled for months to get the cream to float correctly. Koeppler eventually hired Sheridan himself, and the Buena Vista served its first Irish coffee on November 10, 1952; the café still serves it by the thousands today and is widely credited with popularizing the drink across the United States.
Roughly 1.5 oz each of whiskey and cream bookend a larger 4 oz pour of hot coffee, with a half-ounce of sugar syrup to sweeten — close to the classic 50:120:50 ml split of whiskey, coffee and cream. That same whiskey-coffee-cream skeleton defines an entire family of hot cocktails that simply swap the base spirit — Spanish coffee (brandy and coffee liqueur) and Jamaican coffee (dark rum) both follow it — but Irish coffee, built on Irish whiskey, is the original.
Ingredients
- Irish Whiskey1 ½ oz
- Hot brewed coffee4 oz
- Simple Syrup½ oz
- Heavy cream, lightly whipped1 ½ oz
Method
- Fill the Irish coffee glass with hot water to warm it, then discard the water.
- Pour the hot coffee into the warmed glass.
- Measure and pour the Irish whiskey and simple syrup into the glass.
- Stir briefly until combined.
- Float the lightly whipped cream over the back of a spoon on top of the coffee.
Glass & Garnish
Footed Irish coffee glass, served hot — a clear, heatproof glass mug that shows off the drink's two distinct layers and keeps the hot liquid off your hand. There's no ice here: warm the glass first with a rinse of hot water, then tip that out before building the drink, so the coffee doesn't cool the moment it's poured. There's no separate garnish — the floated cream layer is the finish. Pour it in a thin, unhurried stream over the back of a spoon held just at the coffee's surface so it settles into a distinct white layer instead of mixing in; that contrast of hot dark coffee under cool pale cream, sipped through rather than stirred together, is the whole point of an Irish coffee.
Notes
This is a hot-built drink, not stirred or shaken over ice, so unlike our other built-in-glass cocktails there's no ice-fill step — warm the glass with hot water instead, and float the cream rather than mixing it in. Demerara or muscovado (brown sugar) syrup is the traditional sweetener; plain simple syrup, used here, is a close, easy substitute with only a subtle flavour difference.
Tools Used
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FAQ
- Who invented Irish coffee?
- Chef Joe Sheridan created it in 1943 at Foynes Airport in Ireland to warm cold transatlantic passengers. Travel writer Stanton Delaplane brought the recipe to San Francisco's Buena Vista Café in the early 1950s, which is largely responsible for popularizing it across the US.
- What's the best whiskey for Irish coffee?
- A smooth, mixable Irish whiskey like Jameson or Tullamore D.E.W. is the traditional choice — its lighter, softer profile blends into hot coffee without fighting the cream. Save peatier or single-malt whiskeys for sipping neat; their smoke gets lost here.
- Do I need brown sugar for Irish coffee, or will white sugar work?
- Either works — brown or demerara sugar (or a rich simple syrup) adds a little molasses depth, while plain white sugar, the choice at the original Buena Vista Café, keeps it cleaner. Use whichever you have on hand; the difference is subtle.
- Does Irish coffee need a garnish?
- Not really — the floated cream layer is the finish. Some bars dust the top with grated nutmeg or float a few whole coffee beans, but the traditional Buena Vista version serves it with no garnish beyond the cream itself.
- What's the difference between Irish coffee and Spanish or Jamaican coffee?
- They're the same hot coffee-plus-cream format built on a different base spirit: Spanish coffee typically uses brandy and coffee liqueur, Jamaican coffee uses dark rum, and Calypso coffee uses coconut rum. Irish coffee, made with Irish whiskey, is the original.
- Can I make Irish coffee for a crowd?
- Yes — brew a large pot of coffee and pre-measure the whiskey and sugar syrup per mug, then build each drink to order rather than batching in advance, since the cream needs to be floated fresh onto hot coffee for every glass.
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