There's no better pick me up after Christmas dinner than a
warming Irish Coffee. The tricky part of course is making it properly. I for
one have met numerous people who claim to be able to make Irish Coffee
properly... but when they fail miserably to float the cream, they blame the
spoon, they blame the temperature of the cream, the quality of the coffee...
anything but themselves. Although the
step by step instructions are simple enough, there is a knack to getting it
right.
Quickly running through what you need for an Irish Coffee:
ñ whiskey
ñ hot
black coffee
ñ light
brown or demerara sugar
ñ cream
Regarding the whiskey, it doesn't have to be cask aged
single malt at £50 a bottle, as any bog standard blended whiskey will do. Even
if you consider yourself a whiskey snob, you won't taste any of the nuances
through the coffee, so you're wasting your good whiskey using it in an Irish
Coffee.
The coffee however does need to be good quality... so if you
were reaching for that jar of Nescafe.. STOP!
Whatever you do, don't use instant coffee. Instead buy your coffee from
a supplier such as www.denbydalecoffee.co.uk
who only stock the good stuff. You can use fresh coffee beans to grind
yourself, ground filter coffee, coffee pods or capsules... the format doesn't
matter, it's the quality that counts.
Light brown or demerara sugar taste better with coffee than
bleached white sugar. And the sugar is what thickens the hot coffee and whiskey
mixture just enough to allow the cream to float. If you don't take sugar, then
tough... the cream won't float without it unless it comes out of an aerosol. If
you're skim reading this, I'll say it again just so you're doubly sure... the cream
will not float if you don't use sugar!
Finally, we have the cream. It's up to you if you use single
or double cream, as this wont affect its floatiness... what will affect its
floatiness however is the sugar (!) and the method you pour the cream in. This
is where some people have their silly ideas, such as stirring the coffee into a
vortex (wrong!), pouring over the back of a red hot spoon (wrong!), using a
'squirty' cream (get out!).
The method, is simple. Preheat the glass or cup before
pouring in the hot coffee & whiskey mix (4 parts coffee, 1 whiskey is
nice). Then stir in two teaspoons of light brown or demerara sugar. This not
only sweetens the coffee, but also makes it thicker so the cream will float...
without the sugar it won't work. Next, place an upturned spoon against the side
of the cup, just above the coffee and over this, slowly pour the cream.
Providing you've thickened the coffee with sugar, it should float. Obviously
the effect is best when poured into a glass, but the taste as you sip the hot
block goodness through the cold creamy whiteness is just as good in either a
cup or a glass.
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