Its got to be said that a nice Irish coffee always goes down well, adding a spot of whiskey to your coffee is a sure fire way to give it the zing it was missing. Maybe not a thing to add to your morning coffee but a shot of whiskey or even rum really does make the black stuff that little bit more interesting. Naturally getting a barista in your local coffee shop to make a whiskey float is not likely to get you many brownie points you can just add a little drop of spirits to your normal coffee drink once it has been served. Depending on the taste and texture you are going for you can try a few simple things.
Plain black coffee with a shot of rum or whiskey is the simple way to go, coffee and rum work very well together as do whiskey and coffee, you will likely need to add a little sugar to taste. If you are feeling a little more adventuress you could order a creamy cup and then add a wee tipple, a cappuccino or latte are lovely and creamy and although they will not produce the same flavour as a real Irish or floater coffee the taste is pretty amazing.
Don’t think you only have to use Irish whiskey as a good scotch works well as to does brandy, just be careful who you tell this to though as some people may think its sacrilege to waste a good scotch in such a way. We on the other hand are not hear to judge but merely provide interesting ideas.
Whiskey or rum go really well with Frappuccino drinks as well, make sure you get the barista to add so
me cinnamon to the top to give the drink a nice taste of spice. You will have to carefully make a hole at the side of the cream using a straw and gently pour the liquor in this hole, again use the straw to gently stir the beverage and then away you go with your nice new drink.
If you are at home then why not try and make a floating coffee and liquor drink yourself.
You’ll need a few things to start with:
*Irish coffee mug or Irish coffee glass
*Irish whiskey or any whiskey, brandy, rum, liquor of your choice
*fresh double cream, from fridge
*Coffee
*Brown Sugar (very important as helps cream float)
Method
– Heat your coffee as normal.
– If using a Irish coffee glass add tea spoon to the glass before pouring hot liquid, this helps disperse some of the heat from the glass. Using a slightly warm glass also helps.
– Fill container with coffee but leave enough room for about 1-2cm of cream.
– Stir in 2 heaped tsp of brown sugar until dissolved
– Add your chosen liquor, start with one shot
– Take your tea spoon and turn upside down and rest lightly on the top of the coffee with the spoons tip just under the surface of coffee, the back of the spoon rest out of the coffee so the cream can run directly from the spoon onto the top of the coffee when poured.
– Slowly pour the cream onto the back of the spoon, the cream should run down the spoon and into the coffee where it will rest on top creating a perfect floater coffee.
It is important to remember each step and very important to remember the brown sugar even if you do not normally take sugar in your coffee. The sugar stabilizes the coffee and allows you to add the cream to the top for floating, without the sugar the cream will not float and you will be left with a bit of a mess.
The reason for using the spoon and inverting it with the back turned towards you is to help with getting the cream to eaisly rest on the top of the liquid, without the aid of a spoon in this manner the cream has a tendency to go deeply into the liquid and ruin the look, remember when you have finished your Irish style coffee you should have the amazing contrast of strong black against pure white with little to no bleaching between the two.
So fill your flask with your favourite tipple and get experimenting, rum, whiskey and brandy work really well in coffee drinks as does amaretto flavoured liquors.
Please note that although adding alcohol to coffee is a great way to add a little flavour to your drink, doing this during normal office hours especially in the tea room in the office could be considered a faux pas and may even result in a good telling off.
Drinking caffeine drinks with alcohol in large quantities is not advised so please drink in moderation
