If you haven’t seen it on TikTok it’s all the rage right now in Coffee.  It’s whipped dalgona coffee!

I originally saw this craze a few weeks ago and wanted to try it but I didn’t have Instant Coffee, so I made whipped coffee with regular coffee.  I finally made it to the grocery store and bought some instant espresso to try making dalgona coffee with.

What is Whipped Dalgona Coffee?

Dalgona coffee is a popular coffee served in cafes in Korea.  It gained popularity internationally from TikTok!  Basically it’s whipped instant coffee to form a creamy custard concoction served over milk.  If you’ve seen the videos you can see why this is so popular!

It’s such a pretty drink and with the whole world locked down and all coffee shops closed, it’s a nice departure from the usual coffee.

Now if you want to save yourself some time and headache I’d use an electric hand mixer to make this instead of just a whisk.  You will be whisking forever!  Get this electric mixer for just $25!

Instant Coffee Vs. Brewed Coffee or Espresso

You can make this drink using regular coffee!  Whipped coffee using regular brewed coffee needs a ratio of 1 part sugar to 1 part brewed coffee/espresso to be able to whip up.  Exact recipe for dalgona without instant coffee.  It’s actually better served over more coffee or espresso and a bit of milk than just over milk because of the sugar content.

Dalgona made using instant coffee will whip up even with less sugar.  The internet recipe most people use involve disolving 1 part instant coffee, 1 part water, and 1 part sugar.  I found this ratio way too sweet even over milk.  But because of the instant coffee in this version you can use less sugar.  I ended up using about half the sugar and it still whipped up nicely.

So which version is better?

I actually like my original version better made with real espresso!  Whipping it to soft peaks gave it that perfect texture for mixing into a cold espresso and milk!  The version using instant coffee, though whipped up better and made for pretty photos did not mix well at all into the milk!  Also I’m not a huge fan of instant coffee flavor, I definitely prefer real brewed espresso over the instant espresso or coffee.

So if you are making dalgona for the gram, make the recipe I have below, but if you are making it to drink, follow my recipe for dalgona without instant coffee. 

Add Flavorings to Your Dalgona Coffee

You can also add fun flavors to the milk!  For instance add some pumpkin spice latte or hazelnut creamer to the milk flavored whipped coffee.  Do not however add it to the whipped coffee while you are whipping it.  The milk content actually makes it not whip up!