Is Dalgona Coffee Worth the Hype?

Of all the viral trends emerging as a result of what we assume is quarantine-boredom, the Dalgona coffee trend has been the oddest. Deceivingly photogenic, the whipped beverage looks utterly delicious with its milk base and plump, creamy head of caramel-colored coffee, but after giving it a go, we found it anything but delicious. 

What is Dalgona coffee?

Dalgona coffee is an inventive, whipped beverage made with equal parts instant coffee, sugar and hot water. All you have to do is whisk the ingredients together until creamy and dollop the resulting mixture over your milk-of-choice.  

The drink’s sudden popularity can be owed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of necessity, folks adhering to social distancing rules forewent leaving their homes for coffee runs and instead whipped up instant coffee to make this yummy-looking beverage. The results went viral.

Is it worth the hype?

We decided to see what all the fuss was about surrounding Dalgona Coffee so we enlisted our stellar baristas for a taste test. We whipped instant coffee in a blender with equal parts sugar and water and poured the pudding-like mixture over a cold glass of milk.

Our findings...

Based on appearances, one might guess that the flavor profile be sweet with a creamy finish. However we were unpleasantly surprised to find the beverage bitter. The instant coffee delivered a burnt taste and after mixing the whipped topping with the milk base, we found that, even diluted, the instant coffee was overpowering. We’ll admit that the Dalgona coffee drink is simple to make, creative and aesthetically pleasing, but the taste falls short. Just look at the photo of our barista, Sam, wincing mid-sip!

While we’re glad we tried Dalgona coffee, we’ll stick with our craft coffee beverages.