Australian Irish Coffee

The Irish coffee is said to be the only coffee that’s drunk with a spoon. It’s also said to be the only cocktail that is drunk with breakfast.

Step back in time to the mid-19th Century, where hot coffee drinks with a little something extra were all the rage. The Viennese coffee houses were at the forefront of this trend, serving up the iconic Fiaker and Pharisäer, which added a splash of rum or brandy to hot coffee and finished it off with a heavenly whipped cream topping.

As we moved into the early 20th Century where new variations of these hot coffee drinks emerged, including the Kaisermelange, Maria Theresia, and Biedermeier-Kaffee. These drinks became mainstays on the menus at Viennese coffee houses, alongside the classic Fiaker and Pharisäer. Across the border in France they had their own versions of these drinks, calling them Glorias, and infusing them with the warmth and comfort of coffee and spirits.

But the pièce de résistance of hot coffee drinks has to be the Irish Coffee. Invented by bartender Joe Sheridan at the Foynes Airbase in Ireland during the mid-20th Century, this cocktail was created to provide solace and comfort to weary travellers who had been delayed by bad weather. The warmth of the coffee, the kick of the whiskey and the sweetness of the cream all combined to create a legendary drink that still warms our hearts and souls today.