I am in heaven with this Irish Coffee.


If you know me, you know my top two besties are coffee and whiskey. I started drinking coffee in college out of pure necessity (I hated the taste). It was a fall semester and I was taking 18 credit hours, working 15 hours a week at Gap and attempting to be an active member of my sorority. Those 18 credit hours broke me. I would go to the sewing lab for hours at a time, leave to cry in my car, drive home, and then cry again at home.

Enter: coffee. My ultimate babe. I started drinking salted caramel mocha's from Starbucks (which I can't even stomach now because it's so sweet!) to stay awake during late night sewing sessions. When I interned in New York, I started drinking caramel iced coffee. Then I started making my own coffee with a LOT of cream and sugar when I came back home for college. Pretty soon I was back in New York, taking my coffee with less and less cream and sugar. Once I started my job at Starbucks I was drinking it black...and taking way too many straight espresso shots!

Then came along whiskey. I had always ordered a cherry sour vodka, because I didn't know any better. One night, at a local concert, I told the bartender that I was sick of ordering a pink drink. I didn't need to order something pink just because I'm a girl! He mixed up something with whiskey in it and the rest is history.


Bushmills is my favorite Irish Whiskey. I very happily bought myself a bottle when I decided write this post! As for the coffee, I used the Single Origin Columbia Narino Supremo blend from Starbucks. It's a super super dark roast that I actually can't even drink black -- but blends perfectly for this recipe.


For the cream on top, it's best to hand whip it. This creates the light and frothy cream without it being stiff and hard to pour. I splashed a little vanilla in my cream before I began whipping, which pulled all of the flavors together!

When I worked at Starbucks, I learned to make a drink called an Undertow. Technically...a customer rudely taught me how to make the Undertow. To make this drink, you splash a bit of milk or cream in the bottom of a short cup and then turn a spoon upside down over the top of the cup and allow the espresso shots to pour on top of the spoon. This creates a layer effect.


I applied the same technique here with the cream. Slowly pour the cream over an overturned spoon and watch as the cream floats on top of the coffee. 😍

Find a cozy spot, curl up and enjoy!