So I finally joined the dalgona coffee craze.
I kept seeing posts from friends in the Philippines talking about it. Apart from knowing it was called “dalgona” coffee, I had absolutely no idea what it was about.
So what does a person do these days when they don’t know what something is? Of course! You google it! So after googling it (and after Alan later tells me that he knew about it), I find out that the coffee fluffiness was a craze that began in South Korea.
I wasn’t that surprised about this because K-Pop is everywhere (one of my friends flew to London, from the Philippines, to watch the K-Pop phenomenon that is BTS when they had their 2-day London concert at Wembley). I once caught the Korean telenovela bug and absolutely loved Full House and Kim San Soon. One of my best friends was completely obsessed with Korean drama series and K-pop. It was great because I could get to dip my toes into the craze, without going all pruney. I think I loved the quirky cuteness of the storylines, but I don’t think I drank the Korean telenovela kool-aid enough to be completely drawn in. I did love that the obsession included all things Korean…because the food (of course!) was what I loved the most. I fell in love with kimchee, kimbap, bulgogi, chapchae and bibimbap (Note to self: when this lockdown finishes, find a Korean restaurant and indulge!).
But I digress! The craze apparently started when Jung Il-Woo (who is apparently a Korean megastar, yes folks, I have been hiding under a rock for years!) made the coffee on live TV. I can’t recall the actual circumstances. But after googling dalgona coffee, I decided it would be a Saturday morning treat. As it was coffee, I was definitely up for trying it.
It was actually so very easy to make. Basically, it was 2 tablespoons each of your choice of instant coffee, sugar and hot water. You used either a whisk (if you have the patience and the stamina – this would probably a great workout for bingo wings) or an electric whisk to whip the sugar-coffee-water mixture into a heavy froth. The coffee turns thick, fluffy and light coloured. The delicious (and very strong) coffee fluff is then spooned over iced milk (yep, iced, literally ice cubes into a glass, milk over the ice cubes). I flavoured my milk with hazelnut syrup. I loved it…mostly because I love strong-enough-to-stand-your-spoon-in coffee. Although I think I would probably make a smaller batch of the coffee cloud. If you go by the premise that the ratio of sugar to coffee to hot water is 1:1:1, then you’ll be okay.
My friends have tried various iterations of the froth: one has tried matcha, another has tried hot chocolate, another has tried Milo. I think I’m going to look for strawberry and chocolate Nesquick to see if I can’t whip it up as well.
I think this will be a good distraction from the pressures of the current lockdown.
Yellywelly 