Remember those beautiful whipped coffee creations that were all over social media during the early pandemic? That’s Dalgona Coffee! We have decided to resurrect this trend now, and share our long-awaited thoughts on this global whipped coffee phenomenon.
The Dalgona Coffee trend is aesthetically gorgeous - silky caramel tones, the fluffy whipped coffee texture. Dalgona is a beauty - an iced cappuccino with a sweet textured twist, a sophisticated frappuccino. We decided to recreate and re-imagine Dalgona Coffee with our very own Explorer Cold Brew Concentrate - we call it Dalgona Cold Brew!
Dalgona is not your standard at-home coffee practice - it’s more of a specialty coffee shop experience. Mid-pandemic, however, with our cities and towns in lockdown and our favorite cafès closed, we had no choice but to explore and invent our own cafè-level creations. Like other quarantine baking trends - we all remember the banana bread insta stories, and there is no forgetting the sourdough starter craze - Dalgona was a global at-home creation overnight.
Whipped Coffee Origins
While Dalgona gained popularity in South Korea, this was not its original birthplace. Variations of the whipped coffee already existed in many parts of the world. In India and Pakistan, “beaten coffee” is the Dalgona equivalent. To make it, beat sugar, hot water and instant coffee altogether. Then add a variety of spices, a pinch of salt, and alas, the fluffy confection is served over espresso and with a side of hot milk. In Greece, the Dalgona equivalent looks a little different - the frappè. We take these same ingredients, but instead of whisking to submission, we use a cocktail shaker and serve over crushed ice. South Korean actor Jung II Woo seems to be responsible for the Dalgona trend: When trying a similar coffee beverage in Macau, he remarked that it tasted like Dalgona candy, and thus Dalgona Coffee was born! Dalgona candy is a Korean sponge-like caramel that’s made with sugar and baking soda - you just stir over medium heat, compress when cool, and pop in the oven! But the real question is...is making Dalgona Cold Brew equally as easy?
How to Make ‘Dalgona Cold Brew’ with Explorer
In its classic form, Dalgona Coffee consists of instant coffee, water and sugar. But for our Explorer Dalgona Cold Brew, we used Explorer Decaf Cold Brew Concentrate (the caf level is up to you) as an instant coffee substitute. The cold brew concentrate creates a delicious balance of rich coffee flavor and caramel candied notes. The cold brew adds depth to this recipe, and complexity to the minimal ingredient list. Our goal was to create Dalgona peaks so tall that not even Cason could climb them! And we are thrilled with our creation. Watching our Dalgona Cold Brew take shape, and grow and fluff beyond our expectations - was a satisfying process. In sum: bring Dalgona back, but make it cold brew. It was a quick and easy way to create a specialty coffee shop experience at home using our cold brew super concentrate - you gotta try it!
Click Here for the Explorer Cold Brew Dalgona Recipe
Keep Exploring,
The Explorer Team