The Buena Vista Cafe

Right off the Powell-Hyde Cable Car line is the Buena Vista Cafe, a San Francisco establishment famous for its (very potent) Irish Coffees. Since it was literally just one minute north on noon we figured it was high time we treated ourselves to a drink, so the three of us grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered a round.

The most interesting part of the experience is that the Irish Coffees are made with a nifty little process that is performed right at the bar (almost continuously in fact due to the number of orders).

Step 1. Line up the glasses and add a few sugar cubes

Adding Coffeee on top of the Sugar Cubes

Step 2. Add coffee

Step 3. Mix everything up

Mixing Everything Up

Step 4. A few VERY generous pours of whiskey

Adding a healthy dose of Whiskey - See what I mean about potent?

Step 5. Add the creme on top (Can you tell the bartender was growing suspicious of my photo taking?)

Adding Creme

Step 6. Serve!

The Final Product

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t really man (or woman) enough for the amount of whiskey in these drinks so I mainly took an “experience” taste and quickly backed away. (Obviously this entire shindig went down before my descent into sickness) However, my companions were big fans.  I think they may both be Irish (or at least big fans of their coffee).

Yum ( I guess?)

Anyway, you can find the Buena Vista Cafe near the pier right off the Cable Car line. An Irish Coffee is about $7 and comes with another whiskey to intoxicate a pirate.