This Boozy Version Of Dalgona Coffee Is Perfect For The Weekend

How do you improve on greatness? With a little bit of booze, of course. If you’re looking to improve upon the greatness that is dalgona coffee, why not make a whipped coffee cocktail. It’s boozy! It’s buzzy! It’s exactly what your Zoom happy hours have been missing.

If you aren’t familiar with dalgona coffee, also known as whipped coffee, my condolences. As its name suggests, it whips together sugar, coffee, and water into a frothy foam you can put over ice and milk. It’s pretty strong so if you prefer your coffee to be on the sweeter, milkier side, you’ll likely want to add more milk to your glass and mix the foam into it. It’s very much worth the extra few minutes it takes to whip up, and it’ll fill the fancy latte-shaped hole in your heart.

As a quick refresher, here’s how you make whipped coffee.

• Combine 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons of warm water, 2 tablespoons of instant coffee or espresso. Yes, it must be the instant kind or it won’t work and you’ll just be whipping forever.
• Vigorously whisk. First, it should look smooth and shiny. Eventually, it should thicken, be foamy, and hold its shape. An electric mixer will make this go much quicker but you can use a whisk if you want an upper body workout.
• Pour the whipped coffee over a glass with ice and milk.
• Voila! Dalgona coffee!

Now that you’ve got the basics down, let’s add some booze. All four of these versions use some form of the aforementioned base.

Cognac Whipped Coffee

If you’re a fan of dark liquor and liqueurs, this is the version for you. Make the whipped coffee as per usual. Then, select your spirit. If you don’t want to use cognac, dark rum, whiskey, bourbon, or amaro would all work. Just add a shot of your chosen spirit to a glass with ice and milk. Then, top it off with your whipped coffee and enjoy!

Kahlua Whipped Cream Coffee

As you might expect, coffee liqueurs go great with whipped coffee. Make a batch of your standard whipped coffee. In a separate bowl, make some Kahlua whipped cream. (Combine about a cup-and-a-half of heavy cream, a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon or two of Kahlua or your preferred coffee liqueur, whip until stiff.) Fold some of your Kahlua whipped cream into the whipped coffee. Add a shot of Kahlua to a glass with ice and milk. Add a generous dollop of your whipped coffee/Kahlua whipped cream mixture on top. Revel in its glory.

Prefer Baileys? Make a batch of Baileys whipped cream instead, following the same proportions above.

Baileys Whipped Coffee

This is as simple as adding a shot of Baileys to your milk and ice before you top it with your whipped coffee. This would also work great with Rumchata, Kahlua, or any coffee liqueur. Sometimes the most brilliant things are the most simple.

I tried adding a shot of Baileys to instant coffee, sugar, and water and then whipping all four ingredients together. (I used a half tablespoon of water and 1.5 tablespoons of Baileys.) Unfortunately, the mixture never got foamy and stiff. After mixing for ten minutes with an electric beater, the closest I could get was a kind of thick, chocolate syrup-looking mix. It wasn’t the whipped consistency I was seeking, but it tasted great with ice and oat milk nonetheless.

White Russian with Whipped Coffee

Two drinks have never been so compatible! Half Baked Harvest has a White Russian and whipped coffee recipe that combines vodka, Kahlua, and cream. Whipped coffee would also pair really well with horchata. Try out this Dirty Horchata recipe from Half Baked Harvest and top it off with your whipped coffee.

If all else fails, do a shot and use your whipped coffee as a caffeinated chaser. There is really no wrong way to whipped coffee.