Dalgona Coffee Recipe | Whipped Coffee At Home

Dalgona Coffee is blowing up on the internet right now.

The other day my daughter Janaki asked me to make Dalgona Coffee for her. Her friends had been talking about it. So I went online to figure out what this phenomenon is and was surprised to see it all over social media and the net in general. It looked amazing and definitely worth a try. When I looked up a dalgona coffee recipe, I realized that this was a version of the phayti hui coffee I used to make years ago. A bit laborious if done by hand but well worth the effort. We decided to make this a family activity and set off to make dalgona coffee at home with her.

Our Dalgona coffee recipe (or Whipped Coffee as it is also known as) can be made with just four ingredients – instant coffee powder, sugar, water, and milk. If you’re wondering what Dalgona coffee tastes like, let me elaborate and share the treat you are in for. The first three ingredients are whipped together to a light golden, creamy, sweet, and super frothy rich mix. This is then spooned over hot or cold milk. Some floats on top while some mixes into the milk to make a super-delicious beverage – almost like a reverse latte but much tastier.

What is dalgona coffee trend? Everything you want to know about Dalgona coffee

Dalgona coffee may have gone viral on the internet, but did you know this new trend was in vogue long before it became the sensation it is in the stay-at-home era? Yes, it existed before everyone started posting their sparkling mugs and glasses full of the delicious frothy coffee mix and sending tease wave across the World Wide Web.

In India it has been long called ‘phayti hui coffee’, phayti, being the Indian term for whipped. I remember serving it to work clients from abroad in the 1990s and they loved this preparation. Some even asked me the process of making it and replicated it when they went back to their respective countries. Such was its popularity back then, too.

Where did Dalgona coffee come from?

Dalgona is a Korean honeycomb-like toffee which has a caramel taste and is made out of baking soda and melted sugar. A South Korean actor Jung II-woo had a beverage similar to dalgona coffee when he was in Macau. It drove the actor nostalgic and he later featured it on a South Korean TV show. After this, the popularity of the coffee spiralled on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram and the #dalgonacoffeechallenge hashtag became viral. Today, many cafes in Seoul serve this candy by crushing it over coffees and pastries.

How to make dalgona coffee right?

If you're wondering how to make dalgona coffee, simply take instant coffee powder, sugar, and hot water in 1:1:1 proportion in a small sturdy cup or bowl and whip it with the help of a balloon whisk. This process should take about 20-25 minutes post which you will see the sugar would have dissolved completely, and the coffee would have changed its colours from dark brown to a light glossy golden colour. It would have also fluffed up - the consistency you would get at the end of the process will be stiff whipped cream with meringue-like peaks.

You could shorten the process by whipping the coffee with an electric whisk or egg beater at a low speed.
 

To make a variation of our dalgona coffee you could even try adding instant hot chocolate powder to the mix in the same proportion as the other ingredients.

What is instant coffee? Why is it used to make dalgona coffee?

Instant coffee is the preferred kind of coffee used to make dalgona coffee. You can find it in packets or jars at the stores and it has soluble coffee crystals which help to make an instant cuppa. Instant coffee is different from the freshly ground roasted coffees that have to be brewed in special equipment such as the French press, the south Indian coffee filter, or an Italian moka pot among others. Instant coffee fluffs up and reacts to the other dalgona coffee ingredients and hence no other kind of coffee will produce the desired results. Besides, instant coffee is widely and easily available and the only one we recommend to make dalgona coffee at home.

How to drink dalgona coffee?

Golden brown, thick, frothy dalgona coffee is poured over milk, and served hot or cold.

To drink or serve dalgona coffee, pour heated or cold milk of your choice in a transparent cup or medium sized glass. Spoon the prepared dalgona coffee mix over it and serve. As options to garnish your dalgona coffee, you could sprinkle some cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, or even some instant coffee powder for an added caffeine kick. This mix needs to be dissolved in the milk before you consume it though we enjoy letting it stand for a short while so that it mixes naturally and unevenly – that’s how we like it. You could even serve your dalgona coffee with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Vegans can enjoy this coffee with almond milk, soya milk, rice milk, etc. in place of dairy.

If you have any leftover dalgona coffee mix after having your fix, you could store it in an air-tight container in the fridge and enjoy another helping later. If you decide to make a bigger batch, just double or triple the quantity, and it will stay good in the fridge for up to a week.

If you enjoyed our dalgona coffee recipe, you may like to pair it with our:

Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Chocolate Cake Without Oven
French Apple Cake
Apple Crumble

Or try all our Beverage Recipes right here!

Dalgona Coffee Recipe at Home:

2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
2 cups milk, hot or cold
 

• Place instant coffee, sugar, and hot water in a medium bowl. Use a balloon whisk to beat the mixture till the colour changes to light golden and it has fluffed up to a consistency of stiff whipped cream with meringue-like peaks, 20 to 25 minutes. Alternately, use an electric whisk and beat to the same consistency, 3 to 5 minutes.
   
• Pour milk, hot or cold as per your preference, into 2 cups or glasses and spoon over equal quantities of the whipped coffee mixture.
   
• Top with optional garnishes of instant coffee powder, chocolate powder, cocoa, or cinnamon powder. Serve immediately.

Serves: 2

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 2 minutes