This 3-ingredient coffee dessert is the pick-up you need

Hot, icy, black, with milk, garnished with a spoonful of whipped cream, poured on the gelato – the coal is in many shapes. In Japan, you often see it in its jiggly and jelly form: coffee jelly. Made with black coffee to highlight the roasted and bitter flavors of the grains, the Japanese coffee jelly is generally set with Kanten (a type of agar) or gelatin. The texture varies according to the way it will be served: as a drink, it is slowly adjusted, slightly sweet and slurpable through a straw. As an autonomous dessert, it is firm and served cooled in a large mouth glass, accompanied by condensed milk (or thick cream) and ice cream. Today, Coffee Jelly is a Japanese dessert par excellence, but it has not always been so.

The origins of coffee jelly date back to Great Britain. The oldest known recipe is in the kitchen book of 1817 The new family reception bookWho called for coffee with gelatin extracted from the foot of a calf. Later, he made his way to New England, where he gained popularity in Boston at the beginning of the 20th century. Durgin-Park, a historic Boston restaurant which opened in 1827 and closed in 2019, said it had served coffee jelly since its creation.

While the popularity of dessert decreased in the United States in the 1960s, it was barely began to gain ground in Japan at that time. The Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun would have published a coffee jelly recipe in 1914, but the dessert only became very popular in 1963, when the Mikado coffee channel began to sell it. In the 1970s, demand in Japan had grown so much that supermarkets began to sell ready -to -use coffee jelly. Today, you will find coffee jelly in supermarkets, convenience stores and, in particular, Kissaten – retro cafes that mix Japanese and Western aesthetics – where it remains a basic dessert.

This recipe is inspired by coffee amber coffee jelly, a popular kissaten in the animated district of Tokyo Shinjuku. The version of the coffee of the jelly is not sweet, but when consumed with thick cream and ice cream, it’s just quite sweet. I added sugar to this version, but it remains balanced both in flavor and texture. Not all coffee frosts in Japan are delivered with ice cream, but additional wealth gives me a real dessert. The other popular fillings include whipped cream and condensed milk. For a fun version of the classic dessert, you can also cut the coffee jelly into small cubes and mix it with coffee with milk – a sweet coffee flavor milk that is popular in Japan – in a glass.

KAntenna vs agar vs gelatin

While Kanten, agar-agar and gelatin are all agents who can be used to make coffee jelly, each produces a different texture. In Japan, Kanten and agar-agar are considered to be different ingredients, because they derive from different types of algae. Unlike gelatin, which is based on animals, Kanten and Agar-Agar are vegan. Agar-Agar creates a gentle coherence, similar to a jello, while Kanten creates a firm, bouncing and almost crisp texture. Kanten is fixed much faster than the agar-agar: for example, this Kanten coffee jelly recipe takes place in an hour at room temperature, while a version of gelatin would require at least five hours.

Even in Japan, adjustment agents used for coffee jelly can vary. When I asked for experienced home cooks what they used, most said Kanten or gelatin (no one said agar-agar). I finally chose Kanten because of its unique texture, but if you prefer gelatin, you can find instructions in the recipe notes below. For coffee, a strong and dark roast is the best for obtaining a more concentrated flavor. But good quality instant coffee, also popular in Japan for its convenience, also works well.

Cool, jiggly and just quite sweet, coffee jelly is proof that dessert does not have to be complicated. Whether you eat it with ice cream, thick cream or itself, coffee jelly is so satisfactory to eat.

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