1938 Famous New Orleans Drinks and how to mix'em (3rd printing) by Stanley Clisby Arthur

"She ordered coffee, and afterwards chasse-cafe." 1800.

Pousse Cafe There are two schools of thought regarding the nam ing and spelling of aPousse Caf^ but only one regarding its goodness. Properly made it becomes a dru^ with more rings than an old-fashioned Barnum &Bailey cir cus. Here we have a post-prandial drink made of layers of variously colored cordials—the heaviest poured first into the serving glass and the following layers gently and skillfully achieved one ring at a time with the aid of a spoon. The lightest liqueur, usually cognac, is poured on last. The name Pousse cafS is said to have been derived from chasse cafS, literally "chase coffee" or a "coffee chaser," a potion of liquor taken after a meal ostensibly to remove the taste of coffee, tobacco, or what have you. The term, usually shortened to chasse, was applied as a rule to brandy, crime de menthe, or like cordials, but in time became definitely attached to the ringed drink of various cordials, now known as Pousse cafe. For another (and probably more authentic) version: pouce, French for "inch" or "thumb," indicates that in the early days of the original concocting of the drink, an inch or pouce of red sirup was first poured in the glass; then a pouce of Curasao, then a pouce of chartreuse, and so on to the final pouce of brandy that topped it. Thus it became a pouce cafi or "inch" drink, until finally the word pouce was corrupted into pousse, a French word with an entirely different meaning. "So one glass of cognac neat, as a chasse (to more things than claret)." 1857.

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