In 2020, TikTok was swarmed by videos of users — most of them housebound and bored thanks to the early pandemic lockdown — blending up a fluffy, somewhat frivolous caffeinated concoction: dalgona coffee, better known across the internet as whipped coffee or TikTok coffee. The trend was born from an episode of popular Korean TV show “Stars’ Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant” in which South Korean actor Jung Il-woo tried a fluffy coffee beverage and pointed out that it tasted similar to a Korean sweet made with melted sugar called dalgona. After the clip went viral on social media, users began making at-home interpretations of the coffee, and its popularity spread.
This drink wasn’t necessarily revered for its taste or quality, but rather for its cloud-like texture and appearance generated by fervorous mixing. Its general recipe involves mixing instant coffee, sugar, and boiled water together until it reaches — as baking instructions would put it — soft peaks. The process is quite labor intensive, with some claiming it took 30 minutes of mixing to achieve the perfect consistency. The fluffy mixture is then served on top of a milk of your choosing, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing pick-me-up boasting a tall, frothy head.
Though many viral fads come and go, the allure of fluffy coffee has persisted. The concept has since taken on a life of its own in coffee shops both local and national across the U.S., as baristas replicate and expand upon the trend in more creative — and
