Coffee Drink
Dalgona Coffee Recipe: Whipped Coffee, Ratios and Fixes
Dalgona coffee is instant coffee, sugar and hot water whipped into a thick caramel-colored cap and spooned over milk. Stir the topping through the milk for a creamy, airy iced coffee.
Drink Snapshot
- Caffeine
- 100–180 mg named example4 g NESCAFÉ Original or Gold, UK referenceCalculated from the brand’s 2 g reference; use your own coffee’s product information.
- Calories
- Estimated 155 kcalGeneric ingredient estimateAll 180 g (¾ US cup) whole milk, 4 g dry instant coffee and 8 g (2 US tsp) sugar; no toppings.
Serving, sugar and sources
- Serving
- 1 glass; 350 ml (11.8 US fl oz) capacity with room for foam
- Made with
- Whipped instant-coffee cap over milk and ice
- Sugar
- Estimated 17.1 g total. Includes 8 g added sugar; the rest is mainly milk sugar.
- Preparation
- About 7 minutes with a frother; longer by hand
Calories use generic USDA ingredients. The named caffeine example uses NESCAFÉ UK product guidance. See the full calculation or label comparison.
Key Takeaways
- 1The whipped top is concentrated coffee: stir it through the milk before deciding whether the drink is too bitter.
- 2Look for a glossy foam that holds a peak; that texture matters more than a promised whipping time.
- 3Use plain soluble instant coffee and a narrow vessel so a small frother can reach the mixture.
On This Page13 Sections
Dalgona Coffee Recipe
For one glass: whip a small coffee topping, then spoon it over iced milk. The coffee, sugar and water are weighed separately; this is not an equal-weight recipe.
Use a vessel narrow enough for the tool to engage this small batch.
Recipe
Dalgona Coffee
- Makes:
- 1 serving
- Time:
- About 7 minutes with a frother; hand whisk longer
Ingredients
- 4 g plain, unsweetened soluble instant coffee
- 8 g (2 US tsp) fine granulated sugar
- 10 g (2 US tsp) hot water
- 180 g (¾ US cup) cold whole milk
- 80 g (2.8 oz) ice
Equipment
- Scale
- Narrow heatproof mixing vessel
- Handheld frother or small whisk
- Spoon
- 350 ml (11.8 US fl oz) glass
Method
- Dissolve. Stir the instant coffee, sugar and hot water together in the narrow mixing vessel until no dry pockets remain.
- Whip. Froth for roughly 3–5 minutes until pale, glossy and thick enough to hold a peak. Stop the tool before scraping the sides. A hand whisk may take 8–12 minutes; judge the texture.
- Assemble and stir. Add the ice and milk to the glass, leaving room for the topping. Spoon all the coffee foam over the milk. Serve immediately and stir thoroughly before drinking.
Estimated nutrition: 155 kcal · 17.1 g total sugar. Per glass, using whole milk and all the coffee topping.
What Does Dalgona Coffee Taste Like?
Dalgona's caramel-colored topping looks like a light dessert mousse, but on its own it tastes strongly of sweet, bitter instant coffee. Once stirred into the milk, it becomes a creamy iced coffee with a soft, airy texture and a lingering roasted finish. The color suggests caramel; the plain recipe gets its flavor from coffee and sugar, not caramel sauce.
I prefer the plain milk base because the whipped coffee is already sweet and intense; extra syrup would blur that contrast.
Ingredients: What Matters
Use plain instant coffee. Soluble instant coffee dissolves into the small water portion. Ground coffee leaves grit; brewed espresso brings too much water for a direct substitution. Three-in-one sachets contain other ingredients and need a different formula. A fully soluble instant espresso powder can be tried, but brands differ in dose and foam behavior.
Measure the sugar and water. Fine granulated sugar is the starting point. Extra unmeasured water can leave the mixture too loose to hold its cap. Brown sugar and alternative sweeteners change both flavor and foam texture.
Milk goes underneath. The topping is whipped separately, so it does not need dairy milk to aerate. The recipe uses 180 g (¾ US cup) whole milk. Plant drinks work as the base, with different flavor, sugar and calorie values. See the milk comparison guide.
How to Whip Dalgona Coffee
Allow 3–5 minutes with a frother or 8–12 minutes with a hand whisk, stopping when the foam is pale, glossy and holds a peak. Begin slowly to limit splashing, then work the whole mixture. A narrow vessel helps a frother reach a small batch; an electric hand mixer may need a larger batch for its beaters to engage properly.
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| What you see | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Dark liquid, loose bubbles | Early stage | Keep the tool in contact with the mixture |
| Lighter color, thicker ribbons | Air is being incorporated | Scrape down the sides and continue |
| Pale, glossy foam that holds a peak | Ready to spoon | Assemble and serve |
| Liquid draining underneath | Foam is losing structure | Serve promptly; check the formula next time |
The coffee, tool and vessel affect whipping time. If the mixture stays liquid, check the ingredients and water amount before continuing to whip.
Troubleshooting Dalgona Coffee
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| Problem | Check first | Practical correction |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee is not whipping | Is it soluble instant coffee? Is the tool reaching it? | Confirm the product and use a smaller vessel; continue only if the mixture is still thickening |
| Foam stays runny | Extra water or insufficient whipping | Return to the measured formula; avoid adding water by eye |
| Grainy topping | Undissolved coffee or sugar | Dissolve the base fully before whipping |
| Foam collapses or weeps | Standing time or a changed sugar/water balance | Make it close to serving and change one ingredient at a time |
| Bitter first sip | The cap is concentrated coffee | Stir it into all the milk before judging the balance |
| Ground coffee settles | Insoluble grounds were substituted | Restart with plain soluble coffee; straining does not recreate this formula |
Dalgona Coffee Ratio: Why This Formula Works
Equal Spoonfuls and the Weighed Recipe
Use 4 g instant coffee, 8 g (2 US tsp) sugar and 10 g (2 US tsp) water, a 1:2:2.5 mass ratio for this dalgona coffee.
Trader Joe's recipe demonstration uses two teaspoons each of instant coffee, sugar and hot water. That is a volume ratio, unlike the weighed recipe above. Instant-coffee spoon weights vary by product, so weigh the coffee for this version.
This distinction matters when scaling. Replacing teaspoons with tablespoons triples the nominal volume of every topping ingredient. A larger-looking foam cap may therefore represent much more coffee and sugar, rather than simply more air. Weigh the portion and count how many glasses it serves.
A review of coffee foam describes coffee-derived protein-like fractions and polysaccharides contributing to foam formation and stability. Whipping incorporates air; the composition and concentration of the liquid help determine how that foam holds.
Dalgona Coffee vs. Indian Beaten Coffee and Greek Frappé
Dalgona coffee puts a thick whipped topping over milk; Indian beaten coffee mixes the foam with milk, while Greek frappé has a looser foam over cold coffee. All three can use instant coffee.
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| Drink | Preparation | Finished structure |
|---|---|---|
| Dalgona / whipped coffee | Whip the coffee topping, then spoon it over milk | A dense visible cap, stirred in before drinking |
| Indian beaten coffee | Beat a coffee-and-sugar base, then mix in milk | An integrated milk drink with coffee foam |
| Greek frappé | Froth or shake instant coffee, then add water and ice; milk is optional | A cold liquid drink with a foam head |
In English-language recipes, whipped coffee commonly means dalgona. It can also describe a broader preparation technique, so the name alone does not establish one cultural origin.
Hot, Lower-Sugar and Flavored Variations
- Hot: omit the ice and use 180 g (¾ US cup) warmed milk in a heatproof cup. Spoon the topping over it and serve; the warm liquid integrates the foam more quickly.
- Less sugar: try 6 g (1½ US tsp) instead of 8 g (2 US tsp), keeping coffee and water fixed. It may form a softer cap. Judge the foam as you whip.
- Decaf or dairy-free: use plain soluble decaf coffee or change the milk underneath. Check the actual coffee's caffeine and the milk's ingredient label; decaf is not necessarily caffeine-free.
- Mocha or vanilla: flavor the milk separately, then add the coffee cap. Count any cocoa, syrup or sweetened milk in the drink's totals.
Matcha and cocoa toppings need their own recipes. They are not one-for-one substitutes for the soluble-coffee material in this method.
Calories, Caffeine, Allergens and Storage
How Many Calories and How Much Sugar?
The defined whole-milk recipe has an estimated 155 kcal and 17.1 g total sugar, including 8 g added sugar, using generic USDA ingredients.
Ingredient calculation and product assumptions
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| Ingredient | Amount | Estimated energy | Estimated total sugar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole milk | 180 g | 109.8 kcal | 9.09 g |
| Granulated sugar | 8 g | 31.0 kcal | 7.98 g |
| Dry instant coffee | 4 g | 14.1 kcal | 0 g in the reference record |
| Water and ice | 90 g combined | 0 kcal | 0 g |
| Complete serving | All ingredients | 155 kcal | 17.1 g |
Use your current product labels for a product-specific total. The dry-instant energy record is a generic estimate; it is not the NESCAFÉ product specification used for the separate caffeine example below. Optional candy, cream and syrups are excluded.
How Much Caffeine Is in Dalgona Coffee?
A 4 g topping made with NESCAFÉ Original or Gold has 100–180 mg reference caffeine. NESCAFÉ UK gives 50–90 mg per 2 g for those products, which is doubled here. Use your own instant coffee’s information for a different product.
Whipping adds air, and milk spreads the coffee through a larger drink; neither removes its caffeine. If one 4 g topping is divided evenly between two drinks, each gets half its coffee and roughly half that reference caffeine. Adding more milk to the whole topping does not do the same thing.
Serving and Storage
Serve the foam promptly because it can drain and soften. Keep milk refrigerated according to its label. Dairy milk contains milk allergen. Plant drinks and coffee mixes require their own ingredient and allergen checks.
Why Is It Called Dalgona Coffee?
The name came from a resemblance to a sweet. In a 2020 interview with The Macau Post Daily, Hon Kee café owner Leong Kam Hon recalled a South Korean television crew filming his hand-beaten coffee in Macau earlier that year. The show's host compared it with dalgona, a Korean honeycomb-style sugar candy.
Leong's own coffee story began earlier. He said visitors had shown him the idea of beating instant coffee with sugar, and that he first tried making it in 2004. He also made clear that the technique was not his invention. The 2020 name and online trend gave whipped coffee a new identity, while related drinks such as Indian beaten coffee have their own preparation and serving traditions.
Common Dalgona Coffee Questions
Can I use ground coffee or espresso?
Can I make dalgona coffee without sugar?
Do I need an electric mixer?
Is whipped coffee the same as dalgona coffee?
Is it Korean?
Does milk make it lower in caffeine?
Editor's Take
Sources and Further Reading
7 references
External links open in a new tab
Preparation and context
- Trader Joe'sTwo-teaspoon recipe demonstration2020 demonstration uses equal teaspoon volumes; our mass recipe is an adaptation.(opens in a new tab)
- Ishwarya and NishaCoffee foam reviewReview of coffee foam formation and stability.(opens in a new tab)
- The Macau Post DailyHon Kee café owner interviewAugust 2020 first-person account distinguishes the naming event from older technique.(opens in a new tab)
Caffeine and ingredient estimates
- NESCAFÉ UKOriginal and Gold caffeine50–90 mg per 2 g, scaled to the recipe’s 4 g instant-coffee portion.(opens in a new tab)
- USDA FoodData CentralWhole milk, FDC 17126561 kcal and 5.05 g total sugar per 100 g.(opens in a new tab)
- USDA FoodData CentralGranulated sugar, FDC 169655387 kcal and 99.8 g total sugar per 100 g.(opens in a new tab)
- USDA FoodData CentralDry instant coffee, FDC 171893353 kcal and 0 g total sugar per 100 g; generic energy record, separate from the named caffeine example.(opens in a new tab)