No cocktail is as proficient at providing cover for a daytime swig of whisky while scratching your caffeine itch as the humble Irish coffee.
For those wandering the streets of SoHo this holiday season, however, few places do winter warmers like the Irish coffee quite as excellently and to spec as The Diplomat. “[The cocktail] has such as great history,” founder John Nugent explains, “with first rumours of it being served during a long winter layover at an airport in Ireland.”
Nugent may well be referring to Foynes, a crucial mid-century stop for transatlantic flights near Limerick, Ireland, and where in 1943, head chef Joe Sheridan added Irish whiskey to coffee he brewed for passengers on a flight that had to turn back due to a severe winter storm. As the all-but-frozen passengers enjoyed the warming beverage, they asked if it was Brazilian coffee, to which Sheridan answered, “That’s Irish coffee!” The drink made its way to the United States in the 1950s where celebrities like Marilyn Monroe were photographed enjoying it.
At The Diplomat, coffee is pre-brewed but kept appropriately hot in a now trademark thermos behind the counter, then mixed with Irish whiskey, cognac and sugar. Chilled cream – kept on a bed of ice before and after use – is poured slowly over a spoon to create a perfect float of rich foam.
“Using proper whiskey and raw sugar brings out some of those nutty notes of the coffee,” Nugent explains. “[We also] use properly chilled 35.1 per cent fat whipping cream, not the stuff you spray from a can.”
The result is a drink that has been one of The Diplomat’s most popular offerings from day one. The first sip provides a gentle wave of cold, rich foam, followed by a hit of the warm, rich and nutty blend of coffee, cognac and whiskey underneath.
