The Drink That’s Taking the Internet by Storm

by Yana Zavgorodnyaya · May 27, 2020

Special thanks to Faith Kramer and J. The Jewish News of Northern California for the clever Shavuot inspiration for this recipe.

Some will call it “Whipped coffee.” Others say it’s “Dalgona” and it originated in South Korea. But the Greeks will tell you that it’s actually “Frappe” and it was created in the late 1950’s by a coffee salesman by the name of Dimitris Vakondios. Today it’s been renamed “Quarantine Coffee.” Why? People are spending more time at home in quarantine and with local coffee shops closed, we’ve been forced to make our own coffee at home using ingredients hiding in our pantries.

Although there are many disputes of where and when whipped coffee was invented, I remember my Ukrainian dad showing me how to make this cold, sweet treat when I was just a kid, so let’s just say that this drink has been around…for a while. I forgot all about it until one day I was scrolling through TikTok and whipped coffee posts were popping up everywhere! The next morning, I woke up and drove to the nearest store, praying they still had instant coffee and milk (pantry items and toilet paper were flying off the shelves during that time) and thankfully they did. There are no words to describe what taking that first sip was like after many years. With that being said, I’m including a simple recipe with step by step instructions. Try it out and let us know what you think!

Side note: I can’t stress enough how important it is to use exact measurements here. There’s some science behind using equal parts of each ingredient and why you need to use instant coffee (not regular coffee grounds) You can read all about it here: https://medium.com/@jpakman/dalgona-coffee-science-of-the-foam-3c2575821d49

Whipped Coffee Recipe

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons instant coffee
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
2-3 Ice cubes
Milk (I used whole milk)

Tools:

Hand mixer or Whisk
Bowl
Coffee mug

Step 1:

Combine instant coffee, sugar and hot water into a bowl.

Step 2:

Whisk. Whisk. Whisk.

If you are using a regular whisk, this part can take about 6-8 minutes. At first, it’ll look like a dark syrup. Keep whisking until it turns into a caramel color.