Recipe: Dalgona Coffee

Back in 2020, dalgona coffee took the world by storm, but then it disappeared and you only rarely see it around these days. It’s such a shame because it’s a great summer drink, like iced latte, but much much better.

It’s also really easy to make; you just whip instant coffee, sugar and hot water until it transforms into a thick, velvety foam. Scoop on top of milk and ice cubes, and you’re done.

The flavor of the foam is similar to dalgona, which is a kind of traditional Korean candy made from baking soda and sugar that you probably remember from Squid Game. I decorate my dalgona coffee with dalgona on a stick, which I think adds a nice hint of burned caramel to the flavor. And yes, I know my dalgona candy is super ugly:)

Notes

If your foam is to the heavy side and not as fluffy as you’d wish, try add a bit more water and sugar to the mixture.

Even if you only want to make one glass of dalgona coffee, I suggest that you follow this recipe for two glasses, as it’s a lot easier to get the foam nice and fluffy, when you have more of the coffee mixture to work with.

Dalgona coffee is usually served iced, but you can also make a hot version. Leave out the ice cubes and add warm milk to the glass before topping with the dalgona foam.

If you want to make a stick with dalgona candy, you can follow my recipe for dalgona candy but instead of one big scoop, you arrange 3-4 smaller scoops on a straight line, then place the stick on the scoops, before flattening the scoops with a glass.

..and a word of caution

The Dalgona coffee is really tasty and it is easy to slurp down several cups a day, but remember that the coffee foam has a lot of caffeine. The instant coffee often has 50-90mg of caffeine per teaspoon. When I made dalgona for the first time, I added a double portion of the foam to a single cup. It tasted so good, that I drank all of it, which is equivalent to drinking around 10 cups of regular black instant coffee, yikes! 

Recipe: Dalgona Coffee – The popular coffee from South Korea

Recipe by Mitzie Mee – Sanne

Course: Dessert, DrinksCuisine: Korea

Servings

2

glasses

Back in 2020, dalgona coffee took the world by storm, but then it disappeared and you only rarely see it around these days. It’s such a shame because it’s a great summer drink, like iced latte, but better. Back in 2020, dalgona coffee took the world by storm, but then it disappeared and you only rarely see it around these days. It’s such a shame because it’s a great summer drink, like iced latte, but better.

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons instant coffee

• 3 tablespoons white sugar

• 3 tablespoons boiling hot water

• Ice cubes

• 1 cup milk

• Optional: Stick with dalgona candy

Directions

• In a mixing bowl, combine the instant coffee, sugar, and hot water.
• Use a hand mixer to whip the coffee mixture until it becomes thick and creamy. This takes about 3-5 minutes with a hand mixer. Start at low speed and gradually increase to high. You can also do this by hand, but it will take longer and your arm might start to hurt:)
• Fill the glasses with ice cubes (about 3/4 of each glass). Pour milk into the glasses, leaving some space at the top.
• Optional: Add the dalgona candy stick.
• Spoon the whipped coffee mixture over the milk. Aim for about 2 large tablespoons of dalgona foam for each glass
• Serve the iced dalgona coffee as is, for a nice layered look, or stir the coffee foam into the milk before drinking for a more balanced taste.