Coffee Jelly Is My Favorite Caffeinated Dessert
by Cindi Sutter, Founder & Editor Spirited Table® - content provided by JARRETT MELENDEZ, BON APPÉTIT—June 22, 2021
A cup of jiggly coffee jelly is the perfect boost for when it’s too hot for drip and cold brew isn’t extra enough.
The only thing better than a good recipe? When something’s so easy to make that you don’t even need one. Welcome to It’s That Simple, a column where we talk you through the process of making the dishes and drinks we can make with our eyes closed.
Years ago, when I was living in Japan, I became obsessed with a dessert called コーヒーゼリー(coffee jelly). My friend Yuko ordered it for me at a small café that specialized in trendy desserts, and I was delighted when our server brought it to the table: a glass dessert cup filled with jiggly cubes of sweetened, gelatinized coffee topped with a dollop of soft whipped cream. It was love at first spoonful. The coffee taste was surprisingly strong, complex, and natural, as if someone had taken a particularly well-brewed cup of rich, chocolaty dark roast coffee and turned it into Jell-O (not terribly far from the truth!). Each cube was surprisingly firm with just a little chew. My favorite way to eat it is to let each block melt in my mouth so that the coffee flavor gradually washes over my palate. (Fun fact: While I’ve always considered coffee jelly a Japanese dessert, I learned that it actually originated in England in the early 19th century.)
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