Dalgona Coffee
달고나 커피 (dalgona keopi) Say DAHL-go-nah KUH-pee
A layered drink of cold (or hot) milk topped with a thick, glossy foam of instant coffee, sugar and hot water whipped together in equal parts. It became a worldwide social-media craze from South Korea in early 2020.
- ServedIced & Hot
- In EnglishWhipped coffee
- TastesBold, Creamy, Sweet
About Dalgona Coffee
Dalgona coffee is two layers in a glass: cold milk (usually over ice) at the bottom and a thick, fluffy, caramel-coloured foam on top. The foam is made by whipping equal amounts of instant coffee, sugar and hot water until it turns pale and holds peaks, rather like meringue. You spoon it onto the milk, admire it, then stir it all together before drinking, so the bitter-sweet coffee cream melts into the milk.
The drink takes its name from dalgona, a Korean street-candy made from melted sugar and baking soda, whose honeycomb colour and toasty, bitter-sweet taste the coffee foam resembles. It exploded in popularity in South Korea in early 2020, when people stuck at home during COVID-19 social distancing filmed themselves whisking it by hand, and the #dalgonacoffeechallenge spread around the world on YouTube and TikTok.
Whipped instant coffee itself is much older and appears in several cultures: India has long made “beaten coffee” (phenti hui), and the Greek frappé relies on the same foaming trick. Today dalgona appears on café menus in Korea and elsewhere, often with toppings such as cocoa, crushed biscuits or pieces of real dalgona candy – but it remains above all a fun, easy drink to make at home.
In the cup
- Whipped coffee foam 30%
- Cold milk 50%
- Ice 20%
Ingredients
- Instant coffee2 tbsp
- Sugar2 tbsp
- Hot water2 tbsp
- Cold milk (dairy or plant)200 ml
- Ice cubesa handful
How to make it
You needMixing bowl, hand whisk or electric mixer / milk frother, tall glass, spoon
Ratio1 : 1 : 1 instant coffee, sugar and hot water (e.g. 2 tbsp each), foam spooned over ≈ 200 ml milk
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Put the instant coffee, sugar and hot water into a bowl.
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Whisk vigorously (or use an electric mixer) until the mixture turns pale, thick and glossy and holds soft peaks – about 2 minutes by mixer or several minutes by hand.
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Fill a glass with ice and pour in the cold milk, leaving space at the top.
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Spoon the whipped coffee onto the milk and smooth or swirl the top.
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Dust with cocoa or crushed biscuit if you like, then stir before drinking.
Origin & history
The drink that became “dalgona coffee” has roots in Macau. Leong Kam Hon, a former shipwright, began serving a hand-beaten coffee at his small café in Coloane, now called Hon Kee; he says he first made it in 1997 for a visiting foreign couple (some accounts say the couple showed him the method). Interest stayed modest until 2004, when the Hong Kong film star Chow Yun-fat tried it and praised it, and some called it “Chow Yun-fat coffee”.
In January 2020 the South Korean actor Jung Il-woo tried the drink at Hon Kee while filming the KBS cooking show Stars’ Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant. He compared its taste to dalgona, the honeycomb toffee sold by Korean street vendors, and the name stuck. Weeks later, as COVID-19 kept people at home, Koreans began whipping it themselves – it was nicknamed “quarantine coffee” and “400 times coffee”, after the idea that you had to beat it hundreds of times.
By March 2020 the #dalgonacoffeechallenge had spread worldwide through YouTube and TikTok, with satisfying how-to videos racking up millions of views, and cafés from Seoul to the United States added it to their menus. Similar whipped coffees had existed long before – notably India’s phenti hui beaten coffee and the Greek frappé – but dalgona gave the idea a name and a global moment.
Variations
- Hot dalgonafoam spooned over warm milk (worldwide)
- Phenti hui coffeeIndian beaten coffee, where hot milk is poured over the whipped coffee rather than the other way round (India)
- Hand-beaten coffeethe Macau café drink that inspired the trend (Macau)
- Dalgona with candytopped with crushed real dalgona honeycomb candy (South Korea)
- Matcha or chocolate “dalgona”coffee-free spin-offs using egg white or cream to create the foam (social media)
Good to know
It only works with instant coffee – fresh ground coffee or espresso won’t whip into stable peaks.
Don’t cut the sugar too much: it helps hold the foam. Use less foam rather than less sugar if you want it less sweet.
A hand whisk works but takes several minutes; an electric mixer or milk frother does it in one or two.
Photograph it first, then stir – drunk unstirred, the foam is very strong and bitter-sweet.
Leftover foam keeps in the fridge for a day or two and can top hot milk or ice cream.
