Is Dalgona Coffee Delicious? Should the 400-Minute Coffee Be Made with Espresso or Instant Freeze-Dried Powder?

Last year, FrontStreet Coffee introduced a wildly popular coffee drink that went viral across the internet. By using a tool to whip the originally liquid coffee into continuous expansion, it ultimately creates a dense, rich coffee foam that floats like clouds on white milk. The texture is thick and mellow with a hint of caramel sweetness. Since the steps and ingredients aren't complicated, it has attracted many sweet-toothed enthusiasts to recreate it at home. This is the "400 Times Coffee."

Today, based on this popular coffee, FrontStreet Coffee brings you its upgraded version—Frozen 400 Times Coffee. With just one additional step compared to the original, it achieves the rich layers of a snow-topped coffee. Sweet-toothed friends should definitely give this a try!

What is "400 Times Coffee"?

400 Times Coffee, also known as "400 Whisks Coffee," gets its name because this coffee drink tastes very similar to a traditional Korean snack called "sugar pastry." It's also known as "Dalgona Coffee" or Caramel Foam Coffee.

Image credit: Korean variety show "New Product Launch Convenience Restaurant"

Its popularity originated from a Korean variety show called "New Product Launch Convenience Restaurant," which featured a signature drink from a small local shop in Macau. The restaurant owner put instant coffee powder, sugar, and warm water in a 1:1:1 ratio into a cup and used hand-whisking technique to create cloud-like dense foam, then completed the coffee by adding ice cubes and milk.

Later, more and more Korean celebrities also started making it at home during live streams, and all praised it highly. This hand-whisked coffee not only became hugely popular in Korea but also caught fire across the entire Asian region. The term "400 Times Coffee" dominated multiple social media websites.

400 Times Coffee 2.0

"Freezing the 400 Times Coffee"—this is the new version that FrontStreet Coffee discovered while surfing the internet one day. Apparently, by simply adding "freezing" to the original steps, the coffee foam can form an ice cream-like texture. Scooping a spoonful over milk creates a specialty coffee that excels in both taste and appearance. Since that's the case, FrontStreet Coffee, which loves both coffee and desserts, naturally had to make one to try.

Let's get started without further ado!

First, the materials we need to prepare are: coffee, fine sugar, and auxiliary tools like an electric whisk and freezer.

There are many choices for coffee. Most online recipes use 3-in-1 instant coffee powder or freeze-dried powder, whisked after adding an equal ratio of hot water. Because these coffee products have higher solid content, the concentration after dissolving in equal proportions of hot water is much higher than other coffees, making it easier to whip up a fluffy texture that doesn't collapse.

However, freshly brewed strong coffee (including regular espresso and moka pot coffee) can also create a creamy texture after adding sugar and whisking, though we need to make slight adjustments to the extraction concentration.

For example, FrontStreet Coffee's typical brewing parameters today use 20 grams of coffee powder to extract 40ml of coffee liquid in 29 seconds. This can be adjusted to extract 30ml in 25 seconds, which can also be understood as Ristretto (Italian concentrated espresso). At this concentration, espresso has lower water content, allowing for better creation of a milk cap texture.

Similarly, if you're using a moka pot, you normally wait until the coffee liquid passes the halfway point before removing it from heat, then let the residual temperature complete the extraction of the remaining coffee liquid. At this point, you can reduce the coffee liquid output by interrupting the heating early, thereby increasing its concentration. After trying it out, FrontStreet Coffee found that you can turn off the heat when the coffee liquid reaches about 1/4 of the upper pot.

Here, FrontStreet Coffee uses freshly extracted espresso and instant coffee powder to make two groups of frozen 400 times coffee to see how they compare.

Espresso Group:

First, extract 30ml of coffee liquid using 20g of coffee powder, add 15 grams of fine sugar, pour them together into a cup, then start whipping with an electric whisk until the coffee foam, formed by incorporating air, becomes a creamy texture that can hold its shape. FrontStreet Coffee spent nearly 16 minutes completing this step.

The texture made from espresso looks very soft and smooth.

Next, seal this "coffee milk cap" and place it in the freezer for more than two hours, until the coffee foam continuously cools down and becomes an ice cream-like texture. At this point, simply find a favorite cup, add ice cubes and milk, then scoop a spoonful of frozen coffee foam into it, and add a piece of caramel biscuit as garnish—the frozen 400 times coffee is complete!

Instant Coffee Group:

Add 15 grams of instant coffee powder, 15 grams of hot water, and 15 grams of sugar to a cup in sequence, then turn on the electric whisk to whip. This took about 13 minutes, and the subsequent steps are the same as before.

The effect made from instant coffee powder is firmer.

Finally, FrontStreet Coffee compared the two groups of coffee and found that the instant coffee group had a heavier bitter taste from the raw materials. The frozen 400 times coffee made from espresso, whether in terms of foam texture, aroma, or the latte taste when paired with milk, was superior to the instant coffee group. The upper coffee foam was dense with a hint of coolness, with solid caramel and nut aromas, while the milk was sweet, fragrant, and smooth—delicious!!

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473