March has come and gone! Again...
We really haven't been able to catch a break since that March two years ago, have we?
We should be exempt from having to add those years to our age...
Has it really been that long? How different is your life now since the world involuntarily got accustomed to its new normal?
In 2020, I was in a different city, on a different career path, with a different partner. I was going to try to become a doctor, if you can believe it.
Now, I get to write about what I enjoy. I get to spend my days how I wish, with much flexibility and great-tasting coffee. I am much happier with where I am in life now and with whom I get to share it with.
Still, I must admit that I do miss the nostalgia of when everyone in the world naively thought that we would only have this pandemic thing to deal with for two weeks, and so a lot of cute fun stuff came up to pass the time (more-so like baking your own sourdough bread and learning TikTok dances, not so much the whole panic-buying of all the available toilet paper and feverishly stampeding the grocery stores).
My favorite part of that chaotic, yet somehow peaceful, time period was the Dalgona coffee trend, aka Korean whipped coffee. I probably made it every day during that fortnight. Even though we all had to stay inside, the spring air was inviting and practically begged for a nice cool drink to compliment it. Cold coffee is one of the best ways to honor that feeling. In my opinion, the first sip of coffee is definitely one of life's little pleasures that make it all worth it and gets you up in the mornings when it may be tough.
There's a really simple recipe I follow involving just four ingredients: instant coffee (of any kind), milk (of your choice), sugar (ideally granulated), and water (boiled and in ice cubes).
You can also cut the recipe in half (using just 1 tbsp for each ingredient and increasing your water ratio) if you want it to be less sweet and/or less intense coffee-wise.
Dalgona Coffee Recipe
- Boil enough water for a cup using a kettle or on a stove top.
- Measure out 2 tbsps of instant coffee and 2 tbsps of sugar into a bowl.
- Add hot water (2 tbsps) to the bowl and use a hand mixer or a whisk (the latter will take a while, like around ten minutes, so I recommend doing this while listening to a couple of songs or having an episode of a show playing in the background) until the texture of the mixture thickens. It should be smoother and shiny, so if it's not, then you'll need to get past the initial dark brown bubbly-ness you'll see.
- Add a handful of ice cubes into a glass of your choice, pour milk to fill said glass most of the way up, and then gently scoop out your mixture so it sits atop your drink, or mix it in altogether.
- Add a fancy straw and voila!
Looking for more Self Care Tips?
Check out The Self Care Bucket List for a wealth of ideas and activities to engage in after you've enjoyed a nice cool cup of Dalgona coffee.
I personally recommend not having more than two of these in a day. One is more than enough, two is alright, but three just makes you shake with caffeine jitters well into the late afternoon and evening. Coffee is great, but it's not worth overusing to the point of messing with your sleep schedule.
Trust me on that one.
I hope you like this recipe! You can always make any modifications if you're missing ingredients or substitutions to accommodate for any allergies or intolerances. You can add things to make it sweeter, or have hints of other flavors, like maple syrup or caramel sauce!
That actually sounds good... I'm gonna go use my hazelnut syrup after writing this...
Please do let me know in the comments if you try this recipe or your own version of it!
Daria :)
Photo by Mariana Ibanez on Unsplash