Dalgona Coffee Latte

Today we’re making the trendiest *new* drink on the market, a Dalgona Coffee Latte made with whipped instant coffee and sugar.

A *new* drink, but not really

I first (or so I thought) saw a Dalgona Coffee Latte being made on YouTube. The light and fluffy texture and minimal ingredients had me intrigued immediately. I added the ingredients to my grocery list and made a note in my planner to test out some recipes.

A few days later, I noticed “Dalgona Coffee” was trending on TikTok. Pretty, curated videos of fluffy, light coffee floating on top of milk filled my feed.

Over the last month, this drink has blown up in a major way.

But what’s the origin?

Some articles I’ve read mention that it originated in Korea. Others give credit to Pakistan and India.

When I shared the recipe to my Instagram stories, my cousin reached out to remind me of a funny childhood story:

“Ok so I don’t know if your dad told you but there was a summer in Beach David in Morocco where everyone got obsessed with this.

However, instead of using the electric whisk, we would use a spoon to beat it in a glass. We called it ‘batbat’ because that was the noise it made. They gave us, the kids, the task of beating it because it gave us something to be entertained with!”

So, not to age myself, but this trendy *new* drink has been around for awhile. Like, decades.

Why I don’t recommend using normal ground coffee…

Like many of you, I did not have instant coffee just lying around in my pantry. In this household, we use real coffee. Sometimes freshly ground (because we’re classy, but not always).

And like so many of you, I wanted so badly for this Dalgona Coffee Latte to be possible with normal coffee.

I did the research. Some of my fellow food bloggers had recipe alternatives using freshly ground coffee beans, but most of the directions required you to whisk the ingredients for 10+ minutes.

Aren’t you lucky I’m here doing the hard *research* on this recipe?

Picture me, covered in splattered spots of sweet, sticky, espresso. Whipping vigorously (as vigorously as one can with an electric beater) and full of hope.

Eventually (somewhere in the 13th minute of beating), that hope turned to despair. Despair turned into desperation. It wasn’t working.

All this to say, if you’re feeling lucky, go ahead and google one of those recipes and try making your Dalgona Coffee Latte with normal coffee.

Here at Salima’s Kitchen, I’m telling you to not waste your time trying this with normal stuff, use instant coffee.

How to make your Dalgona Coffee Latte 

Once you’ve got the ingredients (you got the instant coffee, right?!), you’re now set to make the easiest/messiest drink ever.

Making your Dalgona Coffee Latte is truly as easy as 1, 2, 3. Start by mixing equal parts instant coffee, hot water, and sugar.

From there, it’s all about the whisk. I encourage using an electric mixer (here’s mine that I bought on the cheap cheap. It also has a whisk attachment I used for this recipe). If you don’t have one, a good quality hand held whisk will work. Heck, a spoon will work too but as mentioned above by my cousin, you’re in for a good arm workout.

Keep whisking your ingredients in a big bowl until it becomes foamy, fluffy, and lighter in color.

At this point, just spoon your mix over some cold milk (ice optional). And BOOM, now we’re TikTok famous.

Happy cooking!

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