The Make-Ahead Iced Coffee Trick We Wish We’d Known About Sooner

Remember when Dalgona coffee was all the rage during the pandemic? The whipped coffee trend exploded on the internet, turning instant coffee, sugar, and water into a fluffy, Instagram-worthy drink that almost everyone tried making at home (yep, guilty). I don't know about you, but my social feed was flooded with photos and videos of that creamy, cloud-like mixture floating atop milk, giving us all a new and exciting way to make coffee while were stuck indoors.

Fast forward to today, and Dalgona coffee is making a comeback, but with a twist that’s perfect for our post-pandemic, back-to-the-office lives. In his viral video (6.7 million views!), TikToker and coffee expert Ethan Rode (@ethanrodecoffee) shows you how to meal prep your Dalgona coffee. As soon as I saw this I knew I had to give it a try.

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What Do You Need for Make-Ahead Dalgona Whipped Coffee?

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You need exactly three things (not including ice): instant coffee, sugar and the milk of your choice. That's it (really!).

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How Do You Make Make-Ahead Dalgona Whipped Coffee?

For the meal-prepped version (which will carry you all week), combine 1/2 cup instant coffee or instant espresso and 1/2 cup sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add 3/4 cup of hot water and turn the mixer on to medium-high speed. Set a timer for three minutes, stand back and watch the magic happen. When it's doubled in size (it'll look like marshmallow fluff), scoop into a container and freeze until you're ready to use. When your iced coffee craving hits, you just scoop a dollop or two (I used about 1/4 cup) into a glass of milk and ice, give it a quick stir, and—voilà—you’ve got a delicious, fluffy iced latte in seconds.

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What I Thought Make-Ahead Dalgona Whipped Coffee

I have to admit, I was skeptical this would work. Way back in 2020, I was the Queen of Dalgona coffee. But it required So. Much. Work. Taking out my KitchenAid mixer? No thanks. However, Ethan's meal-prepped version was embarrassingly easy. Instead of whipping up a single serving of this coffee every time I wanted one (which, let’s be honest, was half the fun but could also get tedious), it's now as easy as opening my freezer? Say less.

I tried this at the beginning of my week and by Friday, I still had a decent amount to get me through the weekend, zero effort required. The best part? The whipped coffee mixture freezes beautifully, so you don’t lose any of that frothy texture we all fell in love with during the pandemic.

Commenters on Ethan's video are loving this idea, too, with some saying they add in cocoa powder for a mocha twist, or experimenting with flavored syrups. You can, of course, also use different types of milk—oat, almond or coconut—for a plant-based take on the classic Dalgona. And one absolutely genius commenter said they scoop the coffee into individual portions using a silicone mold (ice cube trays would work, too) before freezing to make portioning out the dollops even easier.

This is definitely a morning coffee hack I'll be using year-round. I'm resting easier knowing that a sweet treat worthy of a coffee shop is waiting for me in less than 2 minutes every morning. So if you thought the whipped coffee trend was over, think again—it’s back, and it's better than ever.

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