National Irish Coffee Day is celebrated annually on January 25th in the United States, so read on to learn more about this drink. Irish coffee is a cocktail with coffee, Irish Whiskey and brown sugar. The ingredients are stirred and topped with cream. Traditionally, the cream is not whipped, but many times it will be served this way today.

The original Irish Coffee was invented by Joe Sheridan, a head chef, in the county of Limerick, Ireland. The story goes that a group of American passengers from a Pan-Am flying boat came in on cold wintery day in 1940 needing something to warm them up. Sheridan whipped together this drink, and when they asked if it was Brazilian Coffee and he replied, “No. It’s Irish Coffee.”

There are other stories of establishments that claim to be the originator of Irish Coffee, such as Tom Bergin’s Tavern in Los Angeles. Also, Buena Vista Café in San Francisco claims they were the first to introduce the drink to the United States.

Today, warm up with a nice cup of Irish Coffee!

Questions?

If you have any questions about this article or food safety and culinary training, contact me at jdetloff@airculinaire.com. For questions about in-flight catering, contact weborders@airculinaire.com.