I’m still just as obsessed with making Dalgona coffee at home as I was in 2020. Dalgona coffee is such an easy, fast, and yummy iced coffee beverage, and ever since it has skyrocketed in popularity on TikTok, it’s stuck.

You’ll feel like switching it up once you make Dalgona coffee enough times. Here’s a vanilla twist on the viral drink that will inspire you to get creative and make other variations of whipped coffee at home.

Here’s how to make a delicious and easy vanilla dalgona coffee.

What is Dalgona Coffee (Whipped Coffee)?

Dalgona coffee is a whipped coffee foam originating from Macau. It blew up on social media during the 2021 quarantine after a Korean actor, Jung Il-woo, ordered it on a TV show called Stars’ Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant while doing a mukbang in Macau.

It spread virally in South Korea and eventually flooded Tiktok, with thousands of people making this simple and seemingly magical drink at home.

Since then, Dalgona coffee has been affectionately known as the “quarantine drink,” which helped thousands of people bond when many could not go outside.

Initially, this drink was called hand-beaten coffee. But the actor described it as tasting like the dalgona candy he had as a kid, and the name stuck.

Dalgona Candy

Dalgona (달고나) is a Korean street candy made from caramelized sugar and baking soda. It’s also known as honeycomb candy because it looks like honeycomb when baking soda is added to the sugar.

Food Science Break: When we add baking soda to hot sugar, the baking soda decomposes and releases carbon dioxide. The gas is released into the sugar mixture and causes it to foam up and create bubbles throughout the sugar.

Because of the baking soda, the caramel candy has a very distinct taste, and apparently, like whipped coffee!

What Does Dalgona Coffee Taste Like?

Dalgona coffee, on its own, tastes like sugary coffee candy. It’s very sweet and very bitter because it’s essentially a fluffy coffee concentrate. In the end, it tastes very similar to bitter caramel.

It has a great foamy texture that, when mixed into milk, creates a nice frothy texture.

How Do You Make Dalgona Coffee?

Dalgona coffee is equal parts instant coffee, sugar, and hot water whisked until stiff foam forms.

As long as you add the same amount of coffee, water, and sugar, whipping dalgona coffee will work. It can be 1, 2, or even 3 teaspoons, as long as there is an equal ratio.

Food Science Break: Dalgona coffee works because of the sugar and protein in the coffee powder! Similar to how sweet cream stabilizes, the protein or structures in the instant coffee trap air when whisked, and the sugar helps stabilize the foam. Without sugar, the coffee won’t hold its frothy texture.

Hot water is essential to dissolve the instant coffee and sugar. While you could use room temperature or cold water, hot water helps incorporate everything easily and quickly. With cold water, you risk the sugar not dissolving fast enough to make a stiff froth.

What Instant Coffee is Best?

You can use any instant coffee you like.

My personal favorite instant coffee is the UCC The Blend 114, which is a Japanese instant coffee that is so good. Japan is just on another level when it comes to instant coffee.

The UCC blend is creamy, a little smoky, and has a really great taste that makes it taste like nearly freshly brewed coffee. It doesn’t have that burnt aftertaste that a lot of American instant coffee has.

You can also use instant coffee with milk and sugar, but it can make it harder to adjust the sugar to create the perfect froth. For simplicity, use plain instant coffee so you don’t accidentally add too little or too much of one ingredient.

How to Drink Dalgona Coffee

The most popular way to mix dalgona coffee with milk and ice. The coffee creates a smooth, velvety texture, which is really pleasant to drink.

You can also watch the dalgona coffee foam melt into the milk if you let it sit on top. It cascades down to the bottom of the glass and creates pretty waterfalls. For this, use a glass or see-through cup.

Equipment You’ll Need

To make dalgona, you’ll need either a hand whisk or an electric whisk and a shallow bowl with tall sides so your coffee mixture doesn’t splash everywhere.

Alternatively, you could also use a handheld frother and a tall cup.

The wider your bowl, the faster your dalgona coffee will whip because you have more surface area to incorporate more air.

I would not recommend hand-whisking unless you can whisk really fast.

Dalgona coffee loses its structure fast; if you don’t whip it fast enough, you might never get to a nice foam. Your coffee mixture will dissolve back into a liquid before you even get a chance!

Why Is My Dalgona Not Fluffy?

Here are some common mistakes people make when making Dalgona coffee that you should know and avoid:

• Not using hot water — The sugar and instant coffee don’t dissolve.
• Letting the dalgona sit too long — The foam eventually turns into liquid. It’s not stable enough to retain its structure for more than 20 minutes.
• Not using 1:1:1 ratios — The foam won’t whip up correctly if there’s too much coffee or water. But if you add more sugar, it helps the foam whip faster.
• Not whisking fast enough — You need to incorporate air at a high speed.
• Adding spices — Spices can weigh down the foam and make it hard to form.

Tips

Here’s how to make a delicious vanilla dalgona coffee:

• Add vanilla bean paste to the milk instead of the dalgona coffee if you want to use it. It can mess with the foam’s integrity and cause it to be less foamy. Vanilla syrup is the best form to use with dalgona!
• You can make this drink in one cup by making the dalgona first, then adding ice and milk. The whipped coffee will float to the top, which is quite cool.