Make traditional Irish coffee with only 4 ingredients! Top it with fresh whipped cream & shaved chocolate for one comforting coffee cocktail.

What is Irish Coffee?
Classic Irish Coffee is just coffee and whiskey, topped with whipped cream. Like our Spiked Eggnog, this cocktail is warm and comforting on a cold day.
The original Irish Coffee was created by Joe Sheridan, a chef at Foynes Air base (near Limerick, Ireland) in 1943. One evening, a flight had to turn back to Foynes midway through its journey, and Joe created a coffee and whiskey cocktail to warm up the cold and weary passengers. It became legendary, and was eventually brought to the U.S. by a travel writer, Stanton Delaplane. Delaplane persuaded Jack Koeppler, a bartender at the Buena Vista Café in San Francisco to recreate it.
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Ingredients

- Irish Whiskey: we used Kilbeggan® Irish Whiskey
- Brown sugar syrup (make this by adding 2 parts sugar to 1 part water)
- Dark roast coffee: we recommend brewing coffee in a French press for dark roast flavor.
- Heavy cream: whipped heavy cream
- grated chocolate, nutmeg, and/or cinnamon (for topping)
see recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
- Rinse coffee mug with hot water
- Add brown sugar syrup
- Add whiskey
- Fill mug with freshly brewed coffee
- Lightly whip heavy cream and pour gently into mug.
- Garnish with grated chocolate, nutmeg (or your topping of choice)
HINT: piping hot, freshly brewed coffee is a must for this drink.

What's the best whiskey for Irish Coffee?
Kilbeggan Traditional Irish Whiskey is the best for Irish Coffee because of its meticulous blend of the finest malted barley and corn. Its sweet caramel and vanilla flavor blend perfectly with dark roast coffee and fresh whipped cream. Slàinte!
Variations
- Add Bailey's Irish Cream: add a splash of Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur for more creamy, caramel flavor
- Iced Irish Coffee: use cold brew coffee + some ice cubes for refreshing flavor
- Decaf Irish Coffee: use your favorite decaf coffee for an after dinner coffee drink
Irish Coffee Toppings
- Ground cinnamon or ground nutmeg
- Shaved chocolate: we like good dark chocolate
- Orange zest
- Caramel syrup
- Raw sugar cubes or sugar sprinkles

This post is sponsored by our friends at Kilbeggan. All opinions are our own.
FAQ
We recommend a strong, dark roast or expresso roast coffee for optimum flavor.
Fresh whipped, heavy cream (whipping cream) works best. We recommend creams with 35-38% milk fat, as they whip up and float perfectly on top of this cocktail.
Mix 2 parts brown sugar with 1 part water. Stir until dissolved.
More cocktail recipes to try
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Irish Coffee recipe
Make traditional Irish coffee with only 4 ingredients! Top it with fresh whipped cream & shaved chocolate for one comforting coffee cocktail.
- Total Time: 17 minute
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
Ingredients
- 1 ½ parts Kilbeggan® Irish Whiskey
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar syrup (2:1 sugar to water)
- 3 parts dark roast coffee
- ½ cup heavy cream
- grated chocolate, nutmeg and/or cinnamon
Instructions
- Rinse coffee mug with hot water.
- Add brown sugar syrup
- Add whiskey
- Fill mug with coffee
- Lightly whip heavy cream and pour gently into mug.
- Garnish with grated chocolate, nutmeg (or your topping of choice)
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: n/a
- Category: drinks and cocktails
- Method: n/a
- Cuisine: Irish
Keywords: Irish, coffee, whiskey, Kilbeggan, St. Patrick's Day
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