This is definitely a fun summer drink. The chilled lattes and cold brews are great, but it’s nice to have other options. Dalgona coffee and whipped matcha are two great alternate summer drinks!
Dalgona Coffee
I’m not a coffee drinker by any means. I used to not be able to even stand the small of coffee. It wasn’t until a few years ago when I learn that ground coffee made for a good body exfoliant and I started making my own body and facial scrubs that started accepting and slowly enjoying the smell of coffee, in moderation, of course. But the idea of drinking coffee was still not anything that crossed my mind. The entire Covid-19, social distancing culture has provided more time on ones hands which has provided more time for noticing things, including this Dalgona coffee concoction. When I saw it, I thought, “That looks fun!” When I found out it was coffee, I was a little disappointed. I decided I was still going to read about it. When I saw the recipe and saw how easy it was, I was thinking, I could substitute cocoa powder. But as I continued reading, I learnt, this was not a good idea and it wouldn’t work as well. I decided I would give it a try. If for no other reason, than the joy of trying to make something new and different. So I did. Now, as I mentioned, I started making coffee scrubs a few years ago and so have ground coffee in my cupboard. I thought, “What’s the difference?” Well, it seems there is a difference. Because no matter how long I whipped the ground coffee with the sugar and water, nothing happened except a dark brown sludge. I figured it was all a trick and wasn’t worth trying and wasting my time anymore. I googled the difference between ground coffee and instant coffee. There seems to be a difference. Something about moisture etc. I still wasn’t entirely convinced. After talking to a coffee authority, I learnt that this difference between ground coffee and instant coffee may be the difference between dalgona sludge and dalgona foamy, fluffy coffee. A few tablespoons of borrowed instant coffee from my coffee authority and 5-7 minutes later, I had dalgona coffee! I’m going to try different coffee types and varying the amount of sugar, but, it was fun to make and then serve.
This is a picture of the whipped INSTANT coffee, sugar and boiling water after 2 minutes. Using instant coffee made a huge difference and I was very happy. I wasn’t sure about the taste and it did taste a bit like coffee however, as the coffee foam slowly blending with the milk, it really wasn’t that bad and was actually quite pleasant. I used cashew milk for this particular sample, but I think any milk can be used: soy milk, almond milk, cow’s milk, goat’s milk, coconut milk.
Dalgona Coffee
Notes
References:
Dalgona Coffee + Whipped Matcha!, Alice, April 2020, Hip Foodie Mom, URL: https://hipfoodiemom.com/2020/04/10/dalgona-coffee-whipped-matcha/
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp instant coffee
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp boiling water
- ice cubes
- milk
Instructions
- Mix the instant coffee, sugar and boiling water in a bowl.
- Use an electric hand mixer and whip coffee mixture until a light brown fluffy foam forms. This takes about 2 minutes.
- Fill a glass with some ice cubes and milk leaving some room, about 1/3 of the glass, empty.
- Fill that 1/3 of the glass with the fluffy coffee foam.
- Mix a little and then servce.
Whipped matcha or “dalgona” matcha
Soon after I saw the dalgona coffee article and recipe, I noticed other fluffy tea drinks started popping up. It was more of a tea latte with foam on top or whipped cream, versions of things I had seen before. However, dalgona matcha caught my attention. I have a lot of matcha that I’m going to have to start being creative with so I decided to take a look. The final product is definitely impressive to look at but it does require a bit more, not much more, work than the dalgona coffee. Matcha powder doesn’t whip up into a foam with sugar and water the way instant coffee does. So to get the fluffy foaminess, egg whites are used. When I read this I thought, matcha meringue? It is a very stiff foam but not quite as stiff as a meringue. There is a sugary syrup that is made and added to the whipping of the egg whites which makes a big difference in terms of taste. Since the foam is quite a bit stiffer than the dalgona coffee foam, it is a bit harder to incorporate with the milk. With a little effort though, it can be done, and worthwhile. This was my first attempt at the dalgona matcha. The recipe makes enough for two servings. I would half the recipe for myself next time, or find a friend to share with.
For future “dalgonas” I’m thinking I’m going to try chaga instead of matcha; I will try a chai latte instead of milk.
Matcha Dalgona / Whipped matcha
Notes
Referencs:
Dalgona Coffee + Whipped Matcha!, Alice, April 2020, Hip Foodie Mom, URL: https://hipfoodiemom.com/2020/04/10/dalgona-coffee-whipped-matcha/
Ingredients
- 1/4 c water
- 1/4 c sugar
- 3 tsp matcha powder
- 2 egg whites
- ice cubes
- milk
Instructions
- Boil water and sugar together to make a sugary syrup.
- Using an electric hand mixer, whip egg whites until it starts to get foamy.
- Add in sugary syrup to the foaming egg whites and continue whipping.
- Add in matcha and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
- Add ice cubes and milk to two glasses leaving about 1/3 of the glass empty.
- Add the stiff peaks of whipped matcha to the glasses.
- Stir a bit, incorporating the whipped matcha foam with the milk.
- Top off with the remaining whipped matcha.
- Dust with a bit of matcha powder.
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