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The Irish Coffee Story
Saturday, July 28th, is a holiday worth celebrating. Which holiday you ask? Why it’s Irish Coffee Day and it’s an official holiday in the City and County of San Francisco. But why not November 10th? Isn’t that Irish coffee’s real birthday? Let’s explore a little history.
On July 28, 1849, the first clipper ship arrived in San Francisco. The S.S. Memnon had sailed from New York in only 120 days. Blazing speed when you consider it could take six months for traditional sailing ships to make the same run around Cape Horn. The local newspaper reported on the ship’s mission to resupply the good people of San Francisco with "the necessities of civilization" - coffee and Irish whiskey.
Fast forward around 100 years and let’s talk about the modern Irish coffee. It was the late 1940s, and Stanton Delaplane, Pulitzer Prize winning writer found himself stranded in Dublin at Shannon Airport. It was a miserable and stormy winter night, and all flights were grounded. An unnamed bartender served a group of tired American travelers hot coffee mixed with Irish whiskey and topped with dollop of cream. Stanton was a well-known travel writer and San Francisco resident.
Back home, Stanton couldn’t get that wonderful coffee drink off his mind. So, in November 1952, Stanton and his friend Jack Koeppler (owner of the Buena Vista Café) set out to perfect the drink Delaplane had enjoyed on that blustery Irish night. Armed with strong black coffee and bottles of good Irish whiskey the pair went to work. They tried again and again and again but it just wasn’t right. One problem they faced was that the cream wouldn’t float on the coffee. San Francisco mayor (and dairy owner) George Christopher, a Buena Vista regular, suggested that they age the cream for 48 hours. Success! The drink quickly became a San Francisco institution.
Their first Irish Coffee was served on November 10, 1952. By their own count, the Buena Vista has served 30 million Irish Coffees. They didn’t invent the drink, but popularized it in America.
The Buena Vista Café dates to1916. Back then the building was a boarding house when the owner converted the first floor to a saloon. The name means “Good View” in Spanish. If you’ve ever been there, you’ll know why. It was a popular spot with fisherman and workers from the nearby sardine cannery.
On November 10, 2008, the Buena Vista Café made it into the Guinness Book of World Records by creating the largest-ever Irish Coffee. They used 10 liters of Tullamore DEW Irish whiskey, 4 pounds of C&H Sugar, almost 10 gallons of Peerless coffee, and they topped it all with 2 gallons of whipped heavy cream.