 Homemade dalgona coffee | |||||||||||
| Type | Coffee | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Origin | Macau[1][2] | ||||||||||
| Introduced | 1997 | ||||||||||
| Ingredients | Coffee,sugar,water andmilk | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Chinese | 椪糖咖啡 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Hand-beaten coffee | |||||||||||
| Chinese | 手打咖啡 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Portuguese name | |||||||||||
| Portuguese | Café dalgona | ||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||
| Hangul | 달고나 커피 | ||||||||||
| RR | dalgona keopi | ||||||||||
| MR | talgona k'ŏp'i | ||||||||||
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant episode featuring Jung Il-woo presenting whipped coffee(in Korean) |
Dalgona coffee, also known ashand beaten coffee, is a beverage originating fromMacau made by whipping equal partsinstant coffee powder, sugar, and hot water until it becomes creamy and then adding it to cold or hot milk.[3] Occasionally, it is topped with coffee powder, cocoa, crumbled biscuits, or honey.[4] It was popularized on social media during theCOVID-19 pandemic, when people refraining from going out started making videos of whipping the coffee at home, by hand without usingelectrical mixers.[5] After the drink spread to South Korea, it was renamed "dalgona coffee" which is derived fromdalgona, a Korean sugar candy, due to the resemblance in taste and appearance, though most dalgona coffee does not actually containdalgona.
The drink is credited to Leong Kam Hon, a former Macaneseshipwright who started his 'Wai Ting Coffee' (later renamed 'Hon Kee',漢記) shop inColoane after a freak accident to his left arm left him incapacitated from continuing work. Leong recalls concocting the drink as requested by a tourist couple in 1997. The drink did not yield much interest to him until 2004 when he took on the idea to serve it as a specialty toChow Yun-fat and his entourage who visited the Hon Kee café that year. Chow's praise for the drink gathered the first wave of international attention when new visitors came in to ask for 'Chow Yun-fat coffee'.[6][1] The maker himself dubs the drink made in his menu as手打咖啡 or "hand beaten coffee".
The name "dalgona coffee" is credited to the South Korean actorJung Il-woo, who ordered this drink at the same eatery in January 2020 during his appearance on TV show calledStars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant. He likened the taste to that ofdalgona, a type of Koreanhoneycomb toffee.[2][7][8]
Following the broadcast of that TV programme, dalgona coffee became popular among Koreans who attempted tomake this drink for themselves during thesocial distancing orders in South Korea. As a result, it was dubbed the "quarantine drink" or "quarantine coffee".[5][9] Under the hashtag #dalgonacoffeechallenge, homemade versions of dalgona coffee began spreading on South KoreanYouTube channels before going viral onTikTok especially in early March of the same year.[10][11][8] The spike in interest during the quarantine period has been attributed to the calming,ASMR-like effects of watching online DIY videos.[12][13] Although the beverage was popularized as a homemade version of whipped coffee, it became a menu item at many coffee shops in South Korea.[14] and even in the U.S.[15]
While most dalgona coffee does not actually containdalgona, one South Korean cafe does combinedalgona with milk tea or coffee.[16] It is not possible to make dalgona coffee using groundcoffee beans; instant coffee creates the dense and foamy topping and the reason for this has much to do with the drying process of the coffee granules.[17]
The drink is also similar to the Italian dessert drink "Crema di Caffe" except with the omission of dairy product. Several media outlets have noted the drink's similarity to the Indian coffee beverage known asphenti hui coffee,phitti hui coffee, orbeaten coffee. The main difference is that when makingphenti hui coffee, milk is poured on top of the whipped mix rather than spooning the whipped mix on top of the milk.[18][19][20] The coffee beverage is similar to theFrappé coffee (or Greek Frappe or φραπέ) originating in Greece in 1957, which is either hand shaken or whipped with a frothing mixer and is traditionally served cold but also may be prepared hot.[21][22][23]
The drink itself has origins from Rajasthan(India) where it is also known as whipped coffee or beaten coffee
The trend is credited to actor Jung Il-woo after appearing on the show "Pyunstorang". He went to Macau where he was served with a handmade drink. Jung said it was delicious and reminded him of dalgona candy. He called it Macau Dalgona coffee.
The craze started percolating in late January, according to Google Trends, then gained traction near the end of February when a Korean YouTuber posted a now viral, ASMR-style video of how to make the creamy drink.
That's why, over the last few days, people have been sharing their attempts (especially on TikTok) at making Dalgona coffee.
