The search for the Ultimate Irish Coffee...

We serve a lot of Irish coffees. We use french press to brew coffee, a process made more laborious during the recent water shortages, when we had to resort to filling a domestic kettle with Ballygowen. Thus, our planned Irish coffee series in December was delayed!

We want to rescue this classic from its dreary status of 1980s carvery chasing tipple: the oft-proffered slug of lacklustre whiskey thrown into the bottom of a glass topped with lukewarm instant coffee and pallid curdled supermarket cream. We want to showcase a coffee made with the best of Irish whiskeys being distilled on this island, coffee that has been roasted with care by Irish coffee suppliers and topped with Irish cream produced by passionate local farmers. We are setting out to develop an Irish coffee that marries the best Irish produce available.

We plan to run a series starting this weekend, each week featuring an Irish Coffee made with a different roastery, chosen especially to compliment the selected whiskey, Kilbeggan, distilled by Ireland’s only Irish owned distillery. We have chosen this whiskey because of its smooth texture and a complimentary sweetness as well as the commitment of the distiller to independent whiskey making tradition. Our cream is from Glenisk, a collective passionate about local food, and organic products

The series will culminate in an evening blind tasting mid March where the ‘Ultimate Irish Coffee’ will be declared. This week's coffee is from Ariosa, a Brazilian coffee with dark, nutty aroma and lovely malty bitterness. We hope you enjoy it!