Moving during a global pandemic and during a local lockdown (with curfew – what even is 2020??), whilst launching a huge work project… well, I don’t recommend it, and it certainly doesn’t leave much time for cooking anything fun.
But I’m back after a small, unplanned hiatus. With a recipe and video that is months old now, but still fun, yummy, photogenic, and let’s face it, time appropriate for the southern hemisphere now that we’re getting some warmer days.
Espresso, affogato, mocha, coffee-infused gin, I’ll have them all; for it was coffee, in all its beautiful forms, that saw me through iso, the move and the long hours of my day job.
Whipped coffee around the world
Around the beginning of the year, I watched as my feed exploded with picture after picture of glasses filled with cloud-like spoonfuls of whipped coffee that had everyone jonesing for a more aesthetically pleasing caffeinated hit.
But is it really all that different?
Sure, dalgona coffee was a bit more whipped and stiff, like pre-baked merengues, but it reminded me of the frappes I’ve watched my sister make since I was tiny. The telltale sound of the hand-held milk frother used to make them was always a clear sign that summer had well and truly hit.
So, frappe in Greece, phenti hui in India and Pakistan, batido in Argentina. There are no doubt more that I’ve yet to come across, and that’s not counting the ones with add-ins like condensed milk or egg whites. Or just straight up espresso and brown sugar frothy concoction that is the Cuban espresso.
So where did the dalgona phrase come from?
The #dalgonacoffeechallenge hashtag exploded all over social media after the actor Jung Il-woo tried a whipped coffee from a local Macau café for Stars’ Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant. In the clip, one of the panel members watching the coffee being made asks: ‘Isn’t that like sweet sugar candy?’ otherwise known in Korea as honeycomb toffee, or dalgona.
To whisk or not to whisk
I wish I knew it was also called the 400 stroke coffee before I made it. Otherwise I would have absolutely used a hand mixer, or at the very least, the hand frother instead of my trusty whisk. You wouldn’t think six tablespoons of ingredients all up would take that long to whip, but I can tell you it took over ten minutes, with a few breaks, to get the nice cloud-like consistency I was looking for.
I’ve made this again since recording the video, and believe me, the hand mixer works just as well and you’ll have a nice tall glass of dalgona coffee within five minutes.
Dalgona Coffee (Whipped Coffee)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated instant coffee
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 600 ml milk
- Ice, optional
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the sugar, coffee and hot water.2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons granulated instant coffee, 2 tablespoons hot water
- Using a hand whisk, hand mixer or a hand frother, whisk until soft peaks start to form. This can take anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes depending on which method you are using.
- Add ice to both glasses and divide the milk between the two. Spoon the whipped coffee equally among the glasses, stir to mix the coffee into the milk and enjoy.600 ml milk, Ice
Cook along with me
Notes
Nutrition
