Origins of Coffee: From Ethiopia to the Arab World

Coffee has a long and storied history that begins on the plateaus of central Ethiopia. Its origins are likely traced to either the Ethiopian province of Kaffa in the southwestern highlands or the plateaus of central Ethiopia, where the coffee plant was first discovered growing wild around 600 AD. The term “coffee” is believed to be derived from “Kaffa,” underscoring the region’s importance in the story of coffee. The wild coffee plants were not just a part of the natural landscape but an integral component of Ethiopian culture, as early inhabitants recognized the potential of this plant long before it became a global commodity.

By around A.D. 1000, Ethiopian Arabs began to collect the coffee fruit, also known as cherries, from these wild trees. They made a rudimentary beverage by boiling the beans or chewing the raw berries for energy. Some accounts suggest that the beans were crushed and mixed with animal fat to create compact, energy-rich snacks, illustrating early recognition of coffee’s stimulant properties. This form of consumption, though crude by modern standards, reflects the ingenuity of early peoples in harnessing the power of the coffee bean.

It wasn’t until the fifteenth century that coffee made its way out of Ethiopia, with traders bringing wild coffee trees to southern Arabia. It is believed that Sudanese slaves played a key role in this transfer, consuming coffee berries on their arduous journeys. Coffee’s reputation as a powerful stimulant grew as it spread across the Arab world. The eastern Arabs, the first to cultivate coffee domestically, developed the process of roasting and grinding beans to create a hot, aromatic beverage. The rapid establishment of coffeehouses, or “qahveh khaneh,” became a hallmark of Arab culture, where social gatherings, intellectual conversations, and cultural exchanges thrived, marking coffee’s profound impact on society.
Origins of Coffee: From Ethiopia to the Arab World

Coffee Grinding Evolution

The grinder plays a pivotal role in drawing out the rich aroma and flavor from coffee beans, facilitating the creation of delightful, top-notch coffee.

The practice of grinding coffee has ancient origins dating back to approximately 1350 B.C., courtesy of the Greeks. Initially, people in Ethiopia, the Middle East, and early coffee-consuming regions utilized the mortar and pestle as the inaugural coffee grinder to grind coffee beans.

In bygone eras, individuals seeking caffeinated beverages had to resort to using stones for the coffee bean grinding process. By the 15th century, the spice grinder took the place of stones, providing a finer grind. In Turkey and Persia during the 1400s, coffee beans were individually roasted in perforated metal saucers and ground using cylindrical mills.

The earliest coffee mill, credited to Nicholas Book, an Englishman, was devised in the late 17th century. He positioned himself as the sole creator of mills capable of grinding coffee into a powder.

Coffee mills gained commercial prominence in 1660s London, where coffeehouses served as popular social gathering spots. In 1798, Thomas Bruff of Maryland, who also happened to be Thomas Jefferson's dentist, received the first U.S. patent for a coffee grinder. His wall-mounted device featured metal nuts with coarse and fine teeth for grinding beans.

In 1815, Archibald Kenrich secured a patent in England for "mills for grinding coffee," delineating a box-type coffee mill with a white-enameled interior bowl, a wooden cotton reel substituting the handle, and a tinplate drawer.

Throughout the 18th century, diverse inventors and companies introduced their manual coffee-grinding contraptions, widely adopted in households. However, the late 1800s witnessed a transition when the American company Hobart produced the inaugural electric coffee grinder, ushering in the era of the contemporary grinders.

In 1905, the United States Patent Office registered a Coffee Mill patent crafted by William Bussinger, featuring an innovative mounting mechanism for the grinders and a receptacle for collecting grounds.
Coffee Grinding Evolution

Venice: Port of coffee in history

In 1585 the ambassador in Constantinople Gianfrancesco Morosini was the first to mention the coffee, in his report to the senate of Venice.

In 1570 the first coffee is introduced to Europe when a shipment from the Yemen port of Mocha arrives in Venice. Traders and voyagers had long been bringing news of this popular beverage of Arabia back to their European homelands.

This busy port city serviced the traders of the world where they exchanged their unique treasures. At first, this rare exotic find is made available only to the very wealthy, and was sometimes sold at premier lemonade stands for medicinal purposes.

The beans, which were loaded at the port of Mocha in the Arabian Peninsula, were unloaded at Venice and originally sold through pharmacies for medicinal purposes. Soon however, the Venetians learned how to roast coffee beans and began drinking coffee both at home and at the botteghe del caffè (coffee shop).

In 1645, seventy-five years after the beverage was first introduced in Venice, the first coffee house opens under the porticoes of St. Mark’s Square, catering to the travelers and trade between the Venetians and the Ottomans. One century later, there were over 200 of them in the city. One of early coffee-house keeper was Floriano Francesconi, who opened his shop in St.Mark's Square in 1720. This coffee-house was to evolve into the famous Caffe Florian, which played host to such famous customers as Jean Jacques Rousseau.

The famous Venetian coffee-houses surround St.Mark's Square resemble Parisian cafes more than English coffee-houses; they served food and alcohol, and were frequented by men and women.

Coffee shops appeared in Rome, Turin, Genoa, Milan, Venice, Padua, Naples, Florence and Trieste, and became famous meeting-places for the educated, including writers, politicians and students over the centuries ahead.

Venice: Port of coffee in history

A story of discovery of coffee

According to the legend, coffee originated from Africa in A.D. 800. Kaldi, a legendary Ethiopian goatherd, noticed his herd dancing from one coffee shrub to another, grazing on the cherry-red berries containing the beans and picked he tried the berries himself and felt the same.

The red cherries which the sheep ate and become very active were taken home and the berries were the fruit of the coffee tree.

Sometime later, a passing monk observed Kaldi and the goats. When Kaldi told him about the berries, the monk thought they might be the answer to his prayers — literally. It seems that the monk was always falling asleep in the middle of prayers. When he ate the berries, he stayed awake.

Another tale which has been around for some time involves an Arabian who uses coffee beans to survive an exile and was discovered near the town of Mocha and thus it was refer to coffee as Mocha.

Coffee soon became the accepted drink of the Arab world. For a long time, it was traded locally.

As everyone know it, originated in Arabia where the first roasted coffee beans were brewed around A.D. 1000. By the thirteenth century, Muslims drank coffee religiously and wherever the Islam went, coffee went too.
A story of discovery of coffee

Coffee and coffee beans

The genus Coffea belongs to the family Rubiaceae. This family comprises many genera including Gardenia, lxora, Cinchona (quinine) and Rubia. The use of coffee as a refreshing beverage dates back at least 700 years although the first coffee house did not appear in London and Paris until about 1650. Its use as a food and as medicinal stimulant is lost in history.

Coffee originated in Arabia where the first roasted coffee beans were brewed around A.D. 1000. By the thirteenth century, Muslims drank coffee religiously and wherever the Islam went, coffee went too: North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and India.

An important milestone in 1727 was the planting of coffee in Brazil, which is now the world’s dominant producer (at the beginning of the 1900s, Brazil produced 97% of the world’s coffee). In 1893, the coffee from Brazil was introduced into Kenya and Tanzania, not far from its place of origin in Ethiopia, 600 years prior, ending its transcontinental journey.

The roasting of coffee beans to give the aroma and flavor, which is universally recognized and appreciated, started during the 13th century and the quality of the aromatic profile is still a matter of expertise in carrying out this process.

Coffee is a large evergreen shrub of which Coffea Arabica, L. and C. robusta, L. are the most important commercial species existing in many varieties. Coffea arabica is a valued species and has been grown and selected for several centuries. It currently represents three-quarters of the world coffee production. Coffea arabica originates from Arabia, and thrives in land that is rich in minerals.

Several other species are encountered but these are of less importance; the flavor of these beans is generally considered to be less coarse, bitter and much less acceptable than that of C. arabica.

Coffee and coffee beans

The origin of coffee mocha

By the time of the 15th century, Sufi monks in Yemen had begun cultivating, drinking, and producing coffee for trade. Coffee later became the accepted drink of the Arab world. For a long time, it was traded locally. When the Ottoman Turks occupied Yemen in 1536, the coffee bean became an important export, cultivated and shipped from the port of Al-Makha until the late 19th century. In 1555, it was introduced to the city of Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey).

By the early seventeenth century, Italian traders had introduced coffee to the West. Other countries soon followed Italy’s example. As the coffee trade grew, traders moved nearer to the coffee-producing countries. Al-Makha on the coast of Yemen became the centre of the world’s coffee trade for 150 years.

Later coffee from Al-Makha began to be referred to simply as Mocha coffee. The term “mocha’ originally referred to coffee that was grown on the Arabian Peninsula and shipped from the Yemeni port of Mocha. The history of this word’s use is fairly muddled. It is likely most Europeans tasted coffee before chocolate.
The origin of coffee mocha

McDonald coffee-house-style: McCafé

Coffee was the most common beverage consumed in the United States until the 1960s, when soft drinks became America’s beverages of choice.

Premium coffee has had a resurgence, first due to the Starbucks coffee chain and then due to the introduction of premium coffees in Dunklin’ Donuts and Burger King establishments. McDonald’s is doing well with its McCafés, which serve mochas and other gourmet coffees in a separate area of selected McDonald’s units.

McCafé is a coffee-house-style food and drink chain, owned by and usually located in McDonald’s restaurants. Created and launched in Melbourne, Australia, in 1993, the chain reflects a consumer trend towards espresso coffees.

As the company opens new restaurants and remodels existing restaurants, it is adding more McCafés in US and European markets. The chain spread to 17 countries by 2001 with the first one in the United States opening in Chicago, Illinois in May 2001 when there were about 300 worldwide.

In December 2016, the company said that they will reintroduce the McCafé concept next year, about eight years after it debuted nationwide. The push follows efforts to upgrade its java and get more of its beans from sustainable sources.
McDonald coffee-house-style: McCafé

The origin of cappuccino

Cappuccino originated in 18th-century Viennese coffeehouses, where it was known as kapuziner, a popular drink at that time. Travel guides to Austria in the early 1900s confirm that capsuziner or kapuziner was a beverage “with more coffee than milk” in contrast to melange for which the reverse was true. By this time the term cappuccino was already in use in Italy. Baedeker's 1904 guide provides an introduction to the coffee menu and café culture

The addition of cream and sugar gave the coffee a brown color that was reminiscent of the hooded robes worn by friars of the Capuchin order. A lighter-colored drink made with more milk was named franziskaner, after the robes of Franciscan monks. Capuchin order of friars was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi.

When the contemporary cappuccino was invented, it adopted the same name because it was visually quite similar. In the mid-to-late 1940s, the word cappuccino was introduced to describe espresso coffee mixed or topped with steamed milk or cream, so called because the color of the coffee resembled the color of the habit of a Capuchin monk.

In 1933, Harper’s Bazaar wrote of how Rome’s “eye-opener is an express strong coffee diluted with milk and called cappuccino.” which it recommended drinking on a café terrace at breakfast while watching the Fascist black shirts go by.

Cappuccino was popularized in Italy in the early 20th century, after which it spread across Europe and to England, but it didn’t become popular in North America until the 1980s, when the Specialty Coffee Association of America was formed to promote high quality coffee.
The origin of cappuccino

First writing about coffee

The first known reference to coffee in Arabic writings came from an Islamic physician, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya El Razi  also known as ‘Rhazes’ (852-932), who wrote a now lost medical textbook circa 900 AD.

In his medical textbook, AL-Haiwi (The Continent), Rhazes describes the nature and effects of a plant named ‘bunn’ and a beverage named ‘buncham,’ and what he says about the beverage’s effects is at least consistent with a reference to coffee.

The oldest extant accounts of coffee roasting date to the writings of the famous Islamic physician Ibn Sina, traditionally referred to in English-language texts by his Latinized name ‘Avicenna’. Avicenna’s praises of coffee were published in Arabic circa 1000 AD and translated into Latin circa 1200 AD.

Ibn Sina wrote of a average that ‘fortified the members, cleanses the skin and dries up the humidities that under it, and gives an excellent smell to all the body’.

And along with the coffee bean itself came the institution of the coffeehouse, which had become an important meeting place and source of news in the Arab World, William Biddulph, an English traveler, had noted in 1609 that ‘their Coffee houses are more common than Ale-houses in England…. If there be any news it is talked of there’.

Leonhard Rauwolf a German physician botanist, also traveler and he was the first European to write a description of coffee, which he saw prepared by the Turks in Aleppo in 1573.
First writing about coffee

Carnation's Coffee-Mate

The first powdered creamer to hit supermarkets in 1952 was called Pream. Carnation food scientists were asked to come up with something better six years later.

Two companies long associated with the dairy industry now make powdered coffee whiteners or creamers: Carnation makes Coffee-Mate which launched in 1961 and Borden’s makes Cremora which launched in the autumn 1963.

The first Nestle nondairy instant creamer Coffee-Mate was produced in Glendale by California’s Nestle. Coffee-Mate needed no refrigeration and half a spoonful or more could be added to black coffee to whiten it and alter the coffee’s taste.

Carnation’s Coffee-Mate is the top selling nondairy powdered creamer. Its major branded competitor is Cremora. With the slowdown in coffee consumption in the late 1980s, however; Coffee-Mate executives began acting with the freneticism of people high on caffeine. New Lite Coffee-Mate was followed in quick succession by liquid and fat free.
Carnation's Coffee-Mate

Arabica coffee in history

Dutch were the only Europeans who managed to grow the coffee bush. Dutch imported the first coffee plant into Holland from Mocha in 1616. Coffee trees were cultivated in Ceylon in 1658 and in Java in 1696.

The Coffea Arabica seedlings were sent by the Dutch governor of Malabar to the Dutch governor of Batavia in 1696. The first seedlings failed due to flooding in Batavia so a second shipment of seedlings was sent in 1699.

The plant grew in Java and in 1711 the first plants were sent from Java to a hothouse in Amsterdam by the Dutch East India Company. In 1713, the Dutch sent a coffee bush as a royal gift to King Louis XIV. After a day of feasting his eyes on the exotic gift, the king put the tree in the hand of Professor Antoine de Jussieu and ordered that every effort be made to cajole this royal gift grow well.

 The first description of a coffee plant was in 1592 by Prospero Alpini. The first scientific reference to coffee was made by Antoine de Jussieu to the Royal Academy of Sciences of France in 1713 under the designation Jasminum arabicanum laurifolia.

But it was Carl von Linne, a Swedish botanist, who established botanical classification in 1753. Linnaeus classified the coffee plant into a new genus, the Coffea, with just one known species: Coffea Arabica.
Arabica coffee in history

History of Nespresso

Nespresso is a coffee system by Nestle Nespresso SA, itself operating system of the Nestlé Group.

In 1976, Eric Favre, a young researcher at A Nestlé research lab, filed his first patent for the Nespresso system. Eric originally invented Nespresso coffee capsules for Nestlé but then left the company to start its own business.

He invented a coffee capsule filled with fresh ground coffee and an appropriate technique with enabled the coffee brewing process under high pressure.

At the time Nestlé dominated the huge instant coffee market with its Nescafé brand, but was weak in the roasted and ground coffee segment. Nespresso was founded in 1986 as a wholly owned, but autonomous, subsidiary of the Nestlé Group with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nespresso was launched in 1986 in Switzerland and Italy with C100 and C1 100 machine models manufactured by Turmix. Capsule production began in Switzerland and coffee varieties include Bolero, Capriccio, Cosi and Decaffeinato.

The system and brand gained additional popularity because in 2000 the first Nespresso commercials went on air on European television.

In 2004 Nestlé aimed to introduce a new system, complementary to the espresso-only Nespresso devices that could also serve cappuccino and lattes.
History of Nespresso

Moccona coffee

Moccona is a coffee brand is produced and trade under D.E Master Blenders 1753 NV. In 2015, the merger between D.E Master Blenders 1753 and the coffee division of Mondelez International created Jacobs Douwe Egberts.

The Moccona story began in The Netherlands where Jacobs Douwe Egberts was established as De Witte Os, in 1753. This company with a small store selling coffee, tea and tobacco.

Later the company was taken over by Sara Lee Corporation. Douwe Egberts went to the stock market under its own, slightly embellished name as D.E Master Blenders 1753 NV.
Moccona coffee

Coffee in United States in twentieth century

The large volume of coffee imports into the United States played an important role in expanding US-Latin American trade in the twentieth century. World War II increased US domination of the Latin American coffee trade by cutting off the important German market.

Historically, coffee was a low cost mass market beverage. This began to change in the 1960s when coffee stores began selling premium coffee beans as well as roasters and other related equipment.

One such retail store was Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Berkeley California. It was founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet, who sold coffee beans and equipment to many students from the nearby University of California.

They inspiring a new generation of small grassroots, batch roasters (as opposed to mass continuous roasting) and sparking the modern ‘specialty coffee’ movement exemplified by Starbucks Coffee founded in 1971 in Seattle.

Customers can purchase fresh roasted beans from a local coffee roster or buy coffee in one-way valve bags, which allow beans to de-gas without admitting oxygen.

Coffee consumption increased steadily between 1925 and 1945. Entering the 1960s, coffee was the most popular beverage consumed in the United States.

But coffee consumption fell by 26% between 1965 and 1987, a trend that continued through the late 1990s, when per capita consumption of both sweetened soft drinks and alcoholic beverages surpassed coffee.

As of 2010, 29 percent of Americans got their coffee at home, 25 percent at Starbucks, 16 percent at MacDonald’s, 11 percent at Dunkin’ Donuts, and 19 percent elsewhere (which includes everything from white tablecloth restaurants to gas stations).
Coffee in United States in twentieth century

Coffee in fast food restaurants

After the Civil War, coffee moved from a generic commodity to a branded product. It was commonly sold in cafes, coffee shops, restaurant and fast food chains and was brewed in virtually every home.

Coffee has been an important part of fast food breakfast options. Coffee was a major item in Dunkin’ Donut when it first opened, and has remained so ever since.  In 1999 the company proclaimed that it had just sold its 8 billionth cup of coffee since opening its doors in 1950.

Starbucks introduced premium coffee and with its drive-through window was beginning to look a lot more like a fast food restaurant. Dunkin’ Donuts seeing the profits in specialty coffee began to offer it own version, which was very successful.

Dunkin’ Donuts was the largest seller in America of regular, non-flavored, brewed coffee through fast food outlets.

MacDonald’s jumped on the coffee bandwagon and other fast food chains began to do the same.

McDonald’s jumped into the upscale coffee business by expanding its McCafe, a concept that had been developed in Australia in 1993. These were a separate area within McDonald’s restaurant with their own counters that sells pastries, premium coffee, mocha frappes and cappuccinos.

In 2006, McDonald’s changed its drip coffee to a stronger blend and began marketing it as ‘premium’ roast – which Consumer Reports rated ‘better’ than Starbucks.
Coffee in fast food restaurants

First coffee house in Venice

The first coffee house in Italy is said to have been opened in 1645. In the beginning, the beverage was sold with other drinks by lemonade-venders.

The Venetians first encountered coffee in Constantinople, where it had arrived in the late sixteenth century. Two Syrian, Hakm and Shams, were running a very successful coffee shop in the Bosporus.

In 1640, Venetians ships began importing coffee beans, or kahve from Ottoman Empire.

The first coffee house in Venice, retailing coffee to Christian Venetians, was opened in 1683, in Piazza San Marco.

It was modeled after the coffee shops that Western travellers encountered in the Ottoman Empire.

One of the early famous coffee house keepers of Venice was Floriano Francesconi, who opened a small establishment in St Mark’s Square, under the Procuratie Nuove in 1720. It was called the Venice Triumphant.

The coffee house market in Venice was transformed in 1723 by Giuseppe Boduzzi’s new Caffè Aurora, under the arcades of the Procuratie Nuove next to the campanile.
First coffee house in Venice 

Arbuckle coffee

In 1860, Arbuckle entered the wholesale grocery business McDonald and Arbuckle, begun by his brother Charles, his uncle Duncan McDonald and his friend William Roseburg.

The uncle and friend left the business and John and Charles assumed charge. The brothers John and Charles Arbuckle, bought a Burns machine (which was invented in 1864 by Jabez Burns) and began to sell pre-roasted coffee in one-pound paper bags. By 1868, John Arbuckle’s formula for a tasty roasted coffee and his keen business expertise had revolutionized the coffee industry.

A good cup of coffee meant daily roasting until 1868, when Arbuckle perfected a glutinous mixture made of Irish moss, gelatin, isin-glass, white sugar and eggs for preserving the freshness of roast coffee.

During the Civil War, Union soldiers received their coffee allotment in paste form mixed with sugar and cream. Confederates roasted their green coffee beans in kettles and spiders. The Arbuckle Brothers patented a method of sealing in flavor by coating beans with sugar and egg white.

Because Arbuckle’s coffee could be packaged and shipped, it was popular with campers and Westerners.

To persuade consumers to purchase his brand, Arbuckle hired an army of agents to write orders. The coffee was published with colored folksy handbills, trading cards and coupons redeemed for premium.

Arbuckle Brothers became the leading coffee provider to the West by creating fresh, easy to use coffee products with strong brand recognition. The 1873 trademark for the brand that Arbuckle targeted in the West, Ariosa, featured a flying angle.

Toward the end of the century Arbuckle’s included a stick of peppermint candy in each package and in 1893, collector’s trading cards featuring animal, cities of the word, US states and recipes.

In 1937, the General Foods Corporation acquired a number of Arbuckle Brothers brand names, including Yuban, which had been served only to dinner guests by John Arbuckle.
Arbuckle coffee

History of Douwe Egberts

A Dutch coffee roasting company, Douwe Egberts was founded in 1753 by Egbert Douwes and his wife, Akke Thysses. They began selling coffee, tea and tobacco in their small shop, De Witte Os (The White Ox), in Joure, a small village in the Netherlands.

Originally, Egbert Douwes only sold his product locally. However his son, Douwe Egberts, who entered the business around 1780, built up national reputation by supplying coffee and tea to shop owners throughout the country, spreading the fame of the Douwe Egberts brand. The shop grew onto a coffee-roasting house and a tea and tobacco-trading company.

The village of Joure was soon too small for the company’s activities and it started new production in Utrecht in 1919.

Gradually the company grew to become the Dutch market leader for coffee. By the 1950s, the company was responsible for over 50 percent of coffee exported from the Netherlands.

Douwe Egberts internationalized in 1927 opening production and distribution activities in Germany. As of 1948 Douwe Egberts expanded into Belgium, Denmark, France and Spain.

In 1978, the company was taken over by Sara Lee Corporation. In 2012, Douwe Egberts again went to the stock market under its own, slightly embellished, name as DE Master Blenders 1753.
History of Douwe Egberts 

Coffee in Europe

European travelers and botanists discussed coffee in their travelogues and treatises long before it was consumed anywhere bin the West.

Because coffee was probably brought up through the port of Venice, many historians believe the first European coffeehouse was established in Venice in about 1645.

Shortly after coffee reached Rome, it was threatened with religious fanaticism. It is related that certain priests appealed to Pope Clement VIII (1535-1605) to have its use forbidden among Christians, denouncing it as an invention of Satan.

The first recorded British coffeehouse was in Oxford. It was opened in 1650. Students and faculty patronized Jacob of the Angel, where their admission and a cup of coffee cost a penny. By early 18th century London had thousands of coffeehouses and by 1739 they outnumbered taverns.

Coffee houses multiply and become such popular forums for learned and not so learned. Only a decade after 166o did coffee take off as an item of luxury consumption; coffeehouses and cafes, the very heart of the emerging public sphere, sprouted up in cities and provincial towns throughout Europe.

In France, the first coffeehouse opened in 1672. By 1843, there were thousands of coffeehouses throughout Europe and the American colonies.

Brazilian coffee industry gets started in 1727 from seedlings smuggled out from Paris.
Coffee in Europe

History behind Irish coffee

The appearance of the first Irish coffee only happened in 1943.

The drink is attributed to a man called Joe Sheridan, a barman working at the airport terminal restaurant in Foynes. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Foynes Airport in Ireland served as the hub for the flying boat, which traveled between the United States and Europe.

In order to get to the terminal, passengers had to take a boat trip that often they chilled to the bone in the cold, North Atlantic winter.

Joe Sheridan head chef at the airport, rewarded travelers who found themselves in Foynes with Irish whiskey topped with coffee.

He then made a few improvements. He added sugar then milk which promptly sank, So he whipped up some cream and floated that on top.

In the early 1950sm San Francisco Chronicle journalist Stanton Delaplane, who enjoyed the concoction so much that he brought the recipe back to Jack Koeppler, bartender at the Buena Vista Hotel in San Francisco.

Koeppler and Delaplane tried to recreate the drink but the whipped cream kept sinking to the bottom.

Koeppler eventually visited Sheridan in Ireland and learned the secret of floating the cream.

The drink is a mix of coffee, sugar and Irish whiskey, over which is poured a tablespoon of double cream. Added properly, the cream floats on top of the coffee.

Irish coffee became a staple after-dinner drink in the United States in the 1950s. Its popularity peaked in the 1970s, when seemingly endless variations using sweeter liqueurs came into vogue.
History behind Irish coffee