Original Article posted on 7x7: http://www.7x7.com/eat-drink/dining-sf-history-how-irish-coffee-came-america
The setup looks like a magic trick. Ten tulip-shaped champagne glasses side-by-side on a grated rail behind Buena Vista Cafe’s crowded saloon bar. Two cubes of C&H sugar drop into each glass. The bartender tips a pot of Peerless coffee and partly fills each glass down the line. A spoon follows, briskly pitching steam into the air. The heat is extinguished with a unbroken pour of Tullamore Dew whiskey and a white dollop of whipped cream. From beginning to end, every step is executed with the speed and precise timing of a magician. But the real trick is serving the remaining 1,990 glasses every single day to the throngs of people waiting to taste the 63-year-old recipe that marked Irish coffee’s American debut.
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