Assemble all of your ingredients on a counter where you will have generous-sized working area. The secrets to making a great Irish coffee are two: you must work quickly which means having all of your ingredients before you before you begin and secondly, to warm the glasses before you combine your ingredients, otherwise, the finished product will not achieve the proper serving temperature.

Begin brewing your coffee. You can use any brand or type of coffee, prepare it in your usual way but make it a tad stronger this time. You want the coffee to hold its flavor against the Irish whiskey.

Separately, prepare a pot of piping hot water.

While the coffee is brewing and water heating, whip your cream by hand or with an electric beater until it is thick but does NOT peak. You want the cream to be semi-liquid, yet stiff enough so that it will float high in the glass and excite the palate. This is where the artist in you must come out. Please, DO NOT use canned aerosol whipped cream products... in the Catholic Church this might be a Mortal Sin. Aerosol, whipped dairy and nondairy toppings will ruin your Irish coffee. Again, real whipped cream ONLY! You can prepare the whipped cream several hours in advance if you prefer and keep it refrigerated. If you are on a diet, maybe you need go to a different web page now.

Once the cream is prepared, fill each mug with the piping hot water. REMEMBER: You must work quickly. Let the water-filled mugs sit a moment or two to warm. You want "one mug for each member of your "good company." Yes, this is much like, "Hurry up and wait!" Take a moment for final meditation before you begin your creation, the most fabulous Irish coffee you have ever had.

Quickly, empty the mugs of hot water and place all of the mugs in a line before yourself. If you are right-handed, work from left to right (if you are a student of Zen, you might try right to left). Place a slightly-rounded teaspoon of granulated sugar in the bottom of each glass.

Again, quickly, pour two-three fingers of Irish whiskey over the sugar. You can be generous with the whiskey but not so generous that you overpower the other ingredients or your good company... another call for the artist. In time, your artistic abilities will grow. Hurry now.

Pour your hot coffee over the whiskey leaving a half-inch or so at the brim. This is to accommodate your cream. Before adding the cream, stir each mug quickly with the silver spoon. Two or three brisk swirls around the glass are all that is required... Top your creation with the whipped cream being careful to keep the coffee and cream separated. It is another Mortal Sin to mix the cream into the coffee. It MUST reside on top or it is off to Confession for you.