Dalgona Coffee: Who Started It?

It’s the phenomenon that’s taken the social media world by storm… but where did it actually begin?

Whether you’re a TikTok newbie or avid scroller, chances are you’ve come across the popping trend that is Dalgona Coffee.

Otherwise known as Whipped Coffee, this beverage is one of the defining fads of 2020 and has seen influencers, celebrities and anyone with a bit of spare time on their hands whipping to the point of insanity to create this foamy, caffeinated drink. With the most basic ingredients and equipment required, all you need is a bit of instant coffee, sugar, a whisk and a bit of elbow grease to jump on board.

But how does it work?

It’s the question on everyone’s lips. How do three ingredients: instant coffee, sugar and water, form such a smooth, caramel-coloured foam? Naturally I took to James Hoffmann– World Barista Champion of 2007 and author of The World Atlas of Coffee– for the answer. And he explains it like this:

Coffee naturally contains foaming agents, evidenced by the layer of crema you get when you make espresso. However the most you can achieve with coffee alone is a light foamy layer that disappears within minutes.

Adding water turns the coffee to liquid, and adding sugar thickens the liquid. This increases its viscosity, causing smaller, stronger bubbles that hold. Think of it kind of like a meringue, which is composed of egg white and sugar. Egg white is naturally viscous and it contains foaming agents, so whipping egg whites alone will give you a decent foamy consistency. Add sugar and it becomes even stronger… and delicious.

So who started it?

With so many weird trends floating around it’s pretty difficult to pin-point the moment they all take off. You can analyse all the data and algorithms until the cows come home but with certain fads I don’t think we’ll ever quite understand their viral appeal. Take this for example:

A cover of a Russian advertising jingle for cereal mixed with a dancing llama that has gone completely viral. I mean, what?!

We’ll get to the start of Dalgona Coffee in a second but firstly I should mention that dalgona is in fact not the proper name. The handle was coined by Korean actor Jung Il-woo, who likened the whipped coffee drink to one of this favourite honeycomb desserts, dalgona.

He just happened to say this on an extremely popular TV show, Stars’ Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant, in January. After which a TikTok user by the name of @imhannahcho recreated and shared her own version. And so began the viral sensation.

As for its real origins, nobody really knows. The wide availability of instant coffee has led to a bunch of whipped coffee and sugar variations all over the world. India and Greece have their own hugely popular versions, and both have been around for decades.

If there’s one thing we know about viral trends, sometimes all it takes is one celebrity to turn an everyday thing into something insanely popular.

Have you tried Dalgona coffee? And what did you really think?