The first time I’ve ever had coffee jelly was when I was working in Japan right out of college. I never really drink coffee on a regular basis. And when I do drink coffee, it’s usually iced coffee with lots of cream and sugar. Nowadays, I still don’t drink coffee much and when I do, it’s usually black or espresso. So after getting into Tokyo for a few weeks and making some new friends, we all decided to meet up at a coffee / dessert shop on a weekend. As I perused the menu, which was all in Japanese, I skipped over the coffee and went straight to dessert. Fortunately there were plenty of pictures on the menu so I can make out what I might want to try. Upon first glance, I thought the coffee jelly dessert was grass jelly which is popular in Asia. But then I see it drizzled with cream and I asked my Japanese friend who told me it was coffee jelly. Now mind you, even though I don’t drink coffee regularly, but I love the smell of coffee so I decided to give it a try.

The coffee jelly was presented in a wine glass with the jelly cut into cubes topped with whipped cream and drizzled with some fresh cream. One scoop and I was in love. The coffee flavor is very strong yet not acidic. When mixed with the whipped cream and fresh cream, it definitely tastes like a coffee dessert but the flavors aren’t whipped together like a frappe so you can distinguish between the bitter, the sweet, and the creamy. Needless to say, I found a new love, until I realized that I can’t have coffee in the afternoon because the caffeine kept me up all night.

Coffee Jelly is so simple to make it’s almost a joke. If you’ve ever made Jell-O before, you can make coffee jelly. Basically just need 3 ingredients, coffee, gelatin, and sugar and lots of patience to let the gelatin set in. I usually make a batch because it can keep in the fridge for a week without any problems. Now, if you are super lazy, you can also buy cold-brewed coffee and just add gelatin and sugar. Now, remember, you must ‘bloom’ the gelatin first or else it will be lumpy.

Ingredients

• 2 cups dark roast coffee
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tbsp gelatin
• ½ cup cold water

Coffee Jelly Dessert

 

Author:

Mike Hsu

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6 servings

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Print

 

Make a caffeine loaded jelly dessert with coffee, sugar, and gelatin.

Ingredients

• 2 cups dark roast coffee
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tbsp gelatin
• ½ cup cold water

Instructions

1. Bloom the gelatin in cold water for 2 minutes
2. Brew your coffee to be twice as strong as normal
3. Add in sugar and bloomed gelatin to very hot coffee, stir until dissolved
4. Pour into molds
5. Let it chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight to allow gelatin to set
6. Remove and drizzle with cream or whipped cream prior to serving

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