Covid Coffee Recipe No. 1

Dalgona coffee – South Korea

I like coffee. Pretty much all coffee. Any strength, style, brand. Hot or iced. I don’t do anything in the morning until I’ve brewed a coffee. The same applies to my afternoons and evenings. It’s eleven o’clock? Down tools, and get the kettle on.

The lockdown must be endured and my travel plans are all dashed. But I’ve decided I will tour the world. I shall visit far flung corners of the globe through coffee. We’ll start in South Korea, shall we? The Dalgona has, it seems, gone viral. And it is rather easy to whip up.

Pop two tablespoons of coffee granules in a mixing bowl. I’m using my slightly pricey Nescafe Alta Rica, but anything will do. Add two tablespoons of sugar. White is better, but the chunky brown granulated sugar works too. Finally, add two tablespoons of water. Two tablespoons of everything, basically – see, I told you this is easy.

Next step is to take an electric hand blender and whisk the crap out of the three ingredients. Yes, you can use a hand whisk. It’ll take forever, but hey – you may well have forever to do it. Anyway, you whisk that mixture until it turns into a very frothy, whipped cream. If you could pour it in a liquid form, you’re not done. Whisk it some more. I gave it several minutes worth of electric whisking.

I believe you can have this hot or cold. It was a warm, sunny day today, so I went cold. Take a glass and pop a couple of ice cubes in it. Fill with milk (or water, if you’re a weirdo) to about the 2/3 mark. Then with a spoon, dollop on your coffee froth. It should look something like the photo above. You could add chocolate syrup if you wanted. I don’t have any syrup, so I didn’t.

So I got this far and I did wonder whether I drink as is, or stir it. I took a sip. Bitter as f*&k. So I stirred it. And the result. Well, you know what? It was actually rather wonderful. Just what the doctor ordered. Well, actually the doctor ordered us all to stay home. And staying at home is easier to do with a large glass of this stuff, my iPad and a my chair in the sun, just outside my window.