Dalgona coffee

History

Creation and naming

The drink is credited to Leong Kam Hon, a former Macanese shipwright who started his 'Wai Ting Coffee' (later renamed 'Hon Kee', 漢記) shop in Coloane after a freak accident to his left arm left him incapacitated from continuing work. Leong recalls concocting the drink as requested by a tourist couple in 1997. The drink did not yield much interest to him until 2004 when he took on the idea to serve it as a specialty to Chow Yun-fat and his entourage who visited the Hon Kee café that year. Chow's praise for the drink gathered the first wave of international attention when new visitors came in to ask for 'Chow Yun-fat coffee'. The maker himself dubs the drink made in his menu as 手打咖啡 or "hand beaten coffee".

The name "dalgona coffee" is credited to the South Korean actor Jung Il-woo, who ordered this drink at the same eatery in January 2020 during his appearance on TV show called Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant. He likened the taste to that of dalgona, a type of Korean honeycomb toffee.

Spread from South Korea

Following the broadcast of that TV programme, dalgona coffee became popular among Koreans who attempted to make this drink for themselves during the social distancing orders in South Korea. As a result, it was dubbed the "quarantine drink" or "quarantine coffee". Under the hashtag #dalgonacoffeechallenge, homemade versions of dalgona coffee began spreading on South Korean YouTube channels before going viral on TikTok especially in early March of the same year. The spike in interest during the quarantine period has been attributed to the calming, ASMR-like effects of watching online DIY videos. Although the beverage was popularized as a homemade version of whipped coffee, it became a menu item at many coffee shops in South Korea. and even in the U.S.

While most dalgona coffee does not actually contain dalgona, one South Korean cafe does combine dalgona with milk tea or coffee. It is not possible to make dalgona coffee using ground coffee beans; instant coffee creates the dense and foamy topping and the reason for this has much to do with the drying process of the coffee granules.