Pour over · V60 · Cocktail
How to make an Irish coffee
Irish coffee contains alcohol. This page is for adults of legal drinking age only.
Irish coffee is hot black coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar, with chilled cream floated on top and not stirred in.
- Coffee
- 8.5 g
- Cup
- 220 ml
- Temp
- 94 °C
- Time
- 3:20
You drink the coffee through the cream. This page follows the IBA specification for the amounts, then adds a small filter-coffee recipe for the 120 ml of coffee the spec asks for, because that part is easy to get wrong: a weak or lukewarm base leaves the drink flat and the cream sinking.
The spec
| Part | Amount |
|---|---|
| Irish whiskey | 50 ml |
| Hot black coffee | 120 ml |
| Cold fresh cream | 50 ml |
| Sugar | 1 teaspoon (about 4 g) |
| Coffee for brewing | 8.5 g ground, 136 g water at 94 °C, ratio 1:16 |
| Glass | Irish coffee glass, 260 ml, preheated |
| Total time | 200 seconds |
The 220 ml of liquid, cream included, fills the glass to about 85 percent and leaves a little headroom.
You need
- A pour-over dripper (V60 or similar), paper filter, server and kettle.
- A scale reading to 0.1 g and a timer.
- A jigger.
- An Irish coffee glass or a heat-safe stemmed glass of about 260 ml.
- A teaspoon, with its back used to pour the cream.
- Cream that is cold and thick enough to pour slowly. Lightly pre-whip it if it runs.
Ratio 1:16 · Grind: medium-fine · grind chart
Starting ranges come from your grinder maker’s own guide. Burrs, beans and calibration vary, so treat them as where to begin.
Steps
- 0:00, Warm the glass with hot water.
Fill the glass with hot water from the kettle. Empty it just before step 4.
- 0:30, Bloom 8.5 g with 17 g water.
Rinse the filter, then dose 8.5 g of medium-fine coffee. Pour 17 g of water, wet the grounds evenly and wait.
- 1:00, Pour to 136 g in slow circles.
Add the rest to a total of 136 g in slow circles. This yields about 120 ml of coffee.
- 2:30, Stir whiskey and sugar into the coffee.
Empty the glass. Pour in the coffee, add 50 ml of whiskey and the sugar, then stir until the sugar is gone.
- 2:50, Float 50 ml cold cream over a spoon.
Hold a teaspoon, back up, just over the surface and pour 50 ml of cold cream slowly over it. Do not stir.
My notes for this recipe
Why the cream floats
Cream stays on top when it is cooler than the coffee and has some body. Pour it slowly from a spoon so that it spreads across the surface and does not plunge. If it sinks, one of three things is wrong: the cream is too thin, the coffee is not hot enough to hold the layer apart, or the pour was too fast. The sugar is there for taste.
Why these numbers
50, 120 and 50 ml and the sugar. These are the IBA amounts for whiskey, hot coffee and cream, plus "at least one teaspoon" of sugar, read from the IBA's own page. The method order also follows the IBA: coffee in a preheated glass, then whiskey and sugar, then cream over a spoon.
8.5 g, 136 g, 94 °C. Authored, based on the 1:16 pour-over ratio on CupTune. The recipe uses a fixed 94 °C because the temperature also keeps the glass warm. Grounds hold back roughly twice their weight in water, so 136 g of water leaves about 119 g of coffee. That is arithmetic with an assumed absorption, not a measurement.
Medium-fine grind. See the grind size guide. A slightly stronger coffee than usual suits a drink where whiskey and cream sit on top.
Timings. Warm-up 30 s, bloom 30 s, pour 90 s, stir 20 s and cream 30 s are authored. They sum to 200 seconds, which keeps the coffee hot.
If it looks or tastes wrong
- Cream sinks into the coffee. Use colder, thicker cream, pour slower and keep the spoon right at the surface.
- Coffee is lukewarm. The glass was cold. Preheat it for the full 30 seconds.
- Too sweet. Use one level teaspoon, not a heaped one.
- Whiskey dominates. The spec has 50 ml. Do not raise it. Brew slightly stronger coffee instead, 9.5 g with the same water.
- Thin and watery coffee. The pour ran too fast or the grind was too coarse.
The IBA gives the build, not these fixes: they are CupTune's judgement.
Evidence and limits
The three liquid amounts, the sugar and the method order come from the IBA. The IBA gives "at least one teaspoon" of sugar, so the 4 g figure is a CupTune conversion for a level teaspoon, and it varies with how you fill the spoon. The brewing recipe, how long the glass is preheated and all timings are authored. No sensory study is cited for the cream-floating advice. It describes how the layering behaves in practice and was not measured. The page does not say how much alcohol is in the drink, because that depends on the whiskey.
Questions
Does the whiskey need to be Irish?
The spec says Irish whiskey. Another spirit makes a different drink.
Can I use an espresso machine instead?
Yes, as a substitution. Pull a shot and add about 85 ml of hot water. The result is closer to an americano, which is stronger.
Why not whipped cream from a can?
Canned whipped cream is not the spec. The IBA lists fresh cream, chilled.