Recipe: Dalgona Mocha
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Dalgona coffee is everywhere on Instagram and TikTok right now, and while it makes me feel a little like a sheep to have jumped on the trend, I also prefer to have a more warm and fuzzy perspective on it. From what I understand, this style of coffee first became popular in South Korea when people self-quarantining were looking for a way to capture Seoul’s wonderful cafe culture while not being able to leave their homes. While friends and loved ones can’t grab a cup of coffee together to socialize at the moment, I like thinking about how the explosion of dalonga coffee on social media means we are all having coffee together in a way.
The recipe for dalgona coffee is super easy to remember: equal parts of hot water, instant coffee granules, and sugar in a bowl, and then whisk the crap out of it and serve it on milk. But the other day I swapped out a little bit of the coffee granules for unsweetened cocoa powder to make a mocha version, and got several DMs about the proportions I used, so I figured I may as well make a blog post about it. The tiny amount of cocoa was enough to really change the flavor, even for my spouse who doesn’t like coffee and has the weakest sense of taste of anyone I’ve met.
Happy whisking!
How to Make Dalgona Mochas
This recipe makes 2 drinks with a generous amount of whipped coffee foam, piled high for the ‘gram.
Ingredients
3 1/2 tbsp instant coffee granules
1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp boiling water
12 oz milk (I used full fat oat milk)
extra unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting, optional
Procedure
Combine instant coffee, cocoa powder, sugar, and water in a bowl that is roomy enough for some major whisking action.
Using an electric hand mixer, whisk the ingredients together, working your way up to the highest setting and rotating the bowl as you go, until everything is a homogenous foam with medium-stiff peaks. (I do not recommend a stand mixer, which has trouble when the volume of ingredients is so small. You could certainly do this manually with a regular whisk but you will be whisking a very long time to get the texture seen in these photos.)
Divide the milk of your choice into two small glasses and top with the whipped mocha foam. Dust a little extra cocoa powder on top. Take several dozen photos, then enjoy!