On this episode of Master Your Glass we are visiting a San Francisco institution - The Buena Vista Café, and learning how to make the most authentic Irish coffee recipe on the planet with Paul Nolan.
Irish Coffee Recipe:
- 2 Sugar Cubes - Buena Vista uses C&H
- 2.5 oz (75ml) Coffee - Buena Vista uses Peerless
- 1.33 oz (40ml) Blended Irish Whiskey - Buena Vista uses Tullamore Dew
- 1 oz (30ml) Heavy Cream 36% Milkfat - slightly fluffed in a mixer Buena Vista uses Glenview Farms
(Recipe for the 5oz -150ml glass that the Buena Vista uses)
Method:
Fill glass with steaming hot water to warm the glass - Let it sit; Dump the hot water out and add two sugar cubes; Add Coffee to fill 3/4 full of the glass. Use a small spoon to stir and dissolve the sugar cubes in the coffee. Add Whiskey; Slowly pour the thickened cream over a spoon to create the collar on the Irish coffee. It should float on top of the whiskey-coffee mixture.
The Buena Vista makes 26 drinks at a time
About The Irish Coffee
The Irish Coffee was created in the winter of 1943 by Joe Sheridan, chef at Foynes Port near Limerick, Ireland. Foynes was an airbase for transatlantic flights at the time that often carried political or Hollywood figures. The airbase was usually just a stopover for longer flights to refuel and often passengers would need to stay for the night, so the new restaurant was created to cater to them. The Buena Vista is a café in San Francisco is credited with introducing Irish coffee to the United States in 1952. Since then the Buena Vista Cafe has served more than 40 million Irish coffees. On a regular day, the Buena Vista serves around 2,000 Irish coffees-up to 2,500 per day on a busy weekend day.
About Paul Nolan
Paul Nolan has made over 5 million Irish Coffees. He was born in Berkley, CA grew up in Livermore, CA. He spent most of my life in the Bay Area except for two years going to graduate school in Canada and a year in New Orleans.
Paul started at the Buena Vista in 1973 as a doorman/bouncer. He had visited the cafe when he was in college at Berkley. He kept a connection with some of the people that worked there and when he finished school, he went there looking for a job and got the job working the door. After one year at the door he went to graduate school. And he went up to the Buena Vista in 1977. He knew the owners, who gave him a job behind the bar and Paul said to himself, “Oh okay, well, I’ll do that for a while, while I look for another job." And that was well over 40 years ago."
National Irish Coffee Day
National Irish Coffee Day kicks off January 25th each year!
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Producer: Michael Gaskell
Cameraman: Michael Gaskell
Host: Livio Lauro
Bartender: Paul Nolan