Dalgona coffee, the ‘lockdown drink’ that has taken the internet by storm

Coronavirus pandemic has its fair share of positives as much as it has dealt a blow to the world in all spheres with lockdown across the globe but it has given life a new meaning.

While staying at home has not been easy for many and anything to kill time is and has been welcomed with both hands dalgona coffee craze has swept the world’s populace with no apologies.

It is the perfect embodiments if “necessity is the mother of invention”.

The milky, pretty and sweet aroma from the whipped cream which is a mixture of instant coffee and sugar and a top-up of milk traces its roots to South Korea but is now the much-hyped COVID-19 stay-at-home-challenge.

Dalgona in Korean means “honeycomb toffee” and is historically a street food in this part of the world with a distinct sweet taste at first and a bitter aftertaste once gulped down.

During the Korean war between 1950-1953, parents devised a method to create some niceties for their children since they had no money to buy them sweets and other stuff being given out by the US Army and this is where the art of making dalgona coffee came about.

At first, it was a lollipop of some kind made from whipping up a mixture of sugar and water which would be boiled until it turns yellow then baking soda is added to it. The mixture puffs up and hardens making it a top-seller in the streets due to its sweet and crunchy feel.

Years later, this evolved and gave birth to dalgona coffee which is usually in high demand in the Asian continent.

It became an instant craze around the world with numerous challenges on Instagram after Korean actor in January, Jung Il-woo prepared dalgona coffee in a televised programme at his home.