Dalgona coffee
Also called whipped coffee
Dalgona coffee is instant coffee, sugar and a little hot water whipped until thick and pale, then spooned over milk, usually cold. It is named after dalgona, a Korean honeycomb toffee that the sweet foam is said to recall, and it spread worldwide in early 2020.
Source: What is Dalgona Coffee?, Sprudge (2021)
At a glance
- In the cup
- Instant coffee, sugar, hot water, milk
- Method
- Whipped by hand or with a mixer
- Name
- After dalgona, a Korean honeycomb toffee
- Spread
- Early 2020
Where did dalgona coffee come from?
The name came from Korean television. In an early-2020 episode of KBS2’s Stars’ Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant, the actor Jung Il-woo tried a whipped coffee at a restaurant in Macau and said it tasted like the dalgona sold outside schools. The drink then spread on YouTube and Instagram in Korea, and on TikTok worldwide, just as the pandemic kept people at home.
Sources: 그때 특허냈으면…정일우 "'전세계 돌풍' 달고나 커피 내가 개발", 머니투데이 (2026); What is Dalgona Coffee?, Sprudge (2021)
The method is older than the name. Sprudge points out that India’s beaten coffee — instant coffee, sugar and water whipped and served with milk — works the same way.
Source: What is Dalgona Coffee?, Sprudge (2021)
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