Hi everyone! 👋
I’ve (maybe yourself too) recently found that many people are home during this pandemic and they’re making this thing called “dalgona coffee”. It’s been making rounds all over social media and my family and friends have also tried it. There is however a mixed response on the taste. Some say it’s really good whilst some aren’t a fan of it. I’ve been putting it off for some time as it seems like a huge exercise before being able to have a sip of coffee. I woke up today with an empty morning schedule and thought, why not?
So dalgona coffee originated from Korea (the word dalgona) which means honeycomb toffee. During our visit to Korea, we saw a lady sitting on the street side where she made toffee candy and cut them into different shapes. That toffee candy she made was called dalgona which is why I think the dalgona coffee idea came from.
Dalgona coffee is a creamy, thick, coffee foam which you can drink on its own or mixed with milk.
To make dalgona coffee, it’s very simple and you only need 3 ingredients. Hot water, instant coffee and sugar. In my case, I don’t have instant coffee at home so I used the Nespresso pods. I’ll explain below how it works.
If you’re using instant coffee, it’s 2 tablespoons of instant coffee, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoon hot water. Whisk all the ingredients together in a cup or bowl, whichever is easiest for you. If you’re using a whisk, expect to get a good hand and arm workout as you’re constantly whisking for 10-15 minutes before you get the creamy coffee peaks. If you’ve got a hand mixer or mixer of some sort, make 2-5 minutes is all you need. It does go from your dark coloured coffee to a light brown colour.
In my case because I had no instant coffee so I used the Nespresso coffee pod. I looked online where people have said it’s impossible to use coffee pods. I didn’t really believe it because there’s this theory behind it which I understand but dunno how to explain it. I can only say that it’s to do with portion and the sugar.
I picked out the small pod which gives you 40ml of coffee. I had a few options to choose from at home and settled with the Voltesso as the coffee intensity was weaker than the others we had and I am on a week where I wanted to be gentle to my stomach after experiencing some nasty, burning pains from a strong coffee I had last week. Feel free to use a stronger coffee but remember that portion plays a role in this.
So I extracted my coffee from the pod using the coffee machine. It’s already got hot water now so all I did was add the sugar in and began whisking.
So my first attempt was using a whisk because I wanted to work out my arms and feel the pain everyone felt and to be satisfied by a beautiful cup of coffee. I failed because it just didn’t peak and I felt like it was going watery again for some reason. I did whisk really hard but not sure how it can fail so miserably... maybe the coffee pod method really doesn’t work? All I gained from it was a small sweat breaking out 😂
Not satisfied and wanting to prove the coffee pod thing works, I reattempted again using an electric mixer. Same method as above but an electric mixer. Success!! 🥳
I poured cold milk into my glass and topped it up with the coffee foam. It was very creamy and also thick. I think it could have been whisked a little more to get rid of the bubbles and to be even thicker and creamier but I was happy with the texture. To drink if, you probably need to stir the foam in with the milk as the foam is too thick itself.
If you’re drinking it without milk, you might find as some say that the coffee taste is really strong.. whilst some have said it’s pretty good on its own but a little on the sweet side.
The verdict?
It’s like iced coffee because I had cold milk but it was way too sweet. Toffee in my coffee 😜. I don’t like to add sugar to my coffee and this one you’re talking about two tablespoons and not teaspoons. Personally, it’s a good treat once in a while if you like the taste and if you’re after a sweet drink and also a coffee hit but for everyday consumption, I’d be worried about anyone’s sugar level.
I might try to do this again using milo or matcha in the future. It would be great if I can make a milk tea version of this too. Trial and error time!
If you ever try making this dalgona coffee or if you have, please let me know what you think of it or the process of making it 😊