Dalgona Coffee: Two Recipes

South Korea has been one of the Asian countries that has most readily adopted coffee as their beverage of choice. Although tea has been around for at least a millennia in this region, coffee has slowly gained a special place in the heart of Asia: Japan invented iced coffee through their very own Hario V60, Hong Kong invented “Yuenyeung”, coffee with tea and milk, and now South Korea has come forward with a catchy drink that has become a phenomenon around the world: Dalgona coffee.

Dalgona coffee gets its name from a traditional Korean sweet, dalgona, which is a toffee and has a color and appearance similar to coffee with milk.

The drink was popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic. As people shared their recipes to make café-style coffee at home with few ingredients, Dalgona coffee stood out as a delicious drink that was easy to make and required few ingredients.

Without further ado, let’s see what ingredients we’ll need for Dalgona coffee and how to make it.

Dalgona coffee

Ingredients: 

• 2 tablespoons of instant coffee
• 30ml hot water (boiling if possible)
• 1 and ½  cups whole milk
• 40 grams confectioners’ sugar
• Ice cubes (optional)

Instructions: 

1. In a small or medium sized bowl, pour instant coffee and sugar.
2. Boil water. As soon as it starts bubbling, turn the stove off and pour on top of coffee and sugar.
3. Start whisking; after a while, the mix will start thickening.
4. Once it has a thick, mousse-like consistency, stop whisking. If you desire more thickness, add more sugar at this point.
5. Pour ice (optional) and milk into a tall glass. Sweeten if desired.
6. Carefully pour the dalgona on top.
7. Enjoy!

Here’s an interesting detail about dalgona coffee; cuban coffee is enjoyed in a similar way, and has been for a while. There’s an old recipe that combines instant coffee and cane sugar in a similar fashion, forming a thick, creamy coffee. However, this is then enjoyed with either espresso or moka pot coffee. No milk in sight!

Let’s get a little more creative and try a dalgona recipe that uses artificial sweetener and vegetable milk as a healthier option to sugar and cow’s milk!

Sugar-free Dalgona Coffee

Ingredients: 

• 2 tablespoons instant coffee
• 30 ml hot water
• Confectioners’ swerve, stevia, or similar.
• 1 and ½ cups soy milk.
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.

Instructions: 

1. In a small bowl, pour coffee and sweetener.
2. Add boiling water and whisk until you reach the desired consistency.
3. In a tall glass, pour soy milk, vanilla extract, and sweetener if desired.
4. Add dalgona on top.
5. Enjoy!

Dalgona can be enjoyed with practically any food. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll completely fall in love with this recipe.