NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – In 1952, Stanton Delaplane was on his way back from Ireland to San Francisco, when he experienced something that helps take the edge off before a long flight: whiskey in coffee.

Delaplane was a travel correspondent for The San Francisco Chronicle at the time, but also worked at the Buena Vista Cafe where he first brought the tasty beverage, according to Karen Krause, a longtime bartender at The Irish House on St. Charles Avenue.

Today we celebrate Delaplane’s famed beverage with National Irish Coffee Day.

Krause showed us how to make the perfect Irish Coffee with just four ingredients: brown sugar, whiskey, coffee and whipped cream.

“We do not sweeten our whipped cream here because originally in Ireland it was just cream on top,” said Krause.  “We shave a little bit of dark chocolate, we sprinkle that right on there. Now a lot of people try to stick a straw in it which you absolutely can do; I suggest you stick through the cream first because that’s how it’s traditionally done. It gives you the traditional colors and it just works out famously.”

Speaking of Irish Coffees, click here to see where you can find frozen Irish Coffees in New Orleans.