Dalgona coffee, a drink originated from Korea, became widely popular this year. The drink earned its name from the honeycomb toffee candy "dalgona." This drink is very simple to make and fills your mouth with a delicious taste. This drink only needs four ingredients: milk, sugar, boiling water, and instant coffee. You can easily make it at home!
Have you ever wondered what the science behind this popular drink is? How is it created? Continue reading to find out!
Making the foam, which is the dalgona part of the drink, is similar to the making process of meringues. Foam is made from the intensity of stirring the ingredients together. First, let's talk about how meringues are made to understand their similarities. One of the main ingredients for making meringues is egg whites. Egg whites contain water, but it also contains many proteins such as amino acids. There are two types of amino acids that are present: hydrophobic (amino acids that avoid water) and hydrophilic (amino acids that love water). When you stir the ingredients, these two types of amino acids come close together. The hydrophilic amino acids link together with the water molecules in the mixture while the hydrophobic amino acids link together with the air molecules. During the stirring process, the amino acids begin to form "bridges" with the molecules. The air molecules cause the mixture to fluff, creating foam. This process occurs during the making of dalgona as well!
Why do we use these specific ingredients to make dalgona coffee?
1. Even though dalgona doesn't contain egg whites, the liquid is received from the boiling water, which allows water molecules to be present and come into contact with the hydrophilic amino acids.
2. Adding sugar helps maintain the foam and prevents the "bridges" from breaking too fast, which leads to deflation.
3. Instant coffee is added because it helps trap the air molecules, which contributes to the creation of the foam. Most importantly, the instant coffee adds flavor to the drink!
I hope you learned more about the science behind dalgona coffee and have fun stirring! Thank you for reading.
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