I Tried The Viral "Dalgona-Style" Coffee Shop In NYC
For me — and so many other people around the world — 2020 was an especially difficult year. The only thing that got me through the first few months of the pandemic was sticking to a routine every morning: waking up, journaling, and making myself a Dalgona-style iced coffee.
Here's a little Dalgona Coffee 101 for those who aren't familiar with it: Dalgona Coffee is a style of whipped coffee, made of instant coffee, sugar, and hot water. It went super viral in 2020 after South Korean actor Jung Il-woo said in a video that the whipped coffee drink reminded him of Dalgona, a popular Korean street snack.
It sounds silly, but the consistency of this routine kept me grounded amidst all the uncertainty of the world. I drank Dalgona iced coffee for months, even after lockdown measures were lifted and other coffee shops were reopened.
Naturally, when I saw that a coffee shop known for its "Dalgona-style" coffee was blowing up on social media, I took it upon myself to review it for my fellow coffee lovers.
Here's my honest review of Pull Tab Coffee, which has over 400 locations in China and just opened its first storefront in NYC:
I stopped by the cafe in Bryant Park on a Saturday morning around 11 a.m., and luckily, the store wasn't too crowded.
The shop itself is pretty small, with a few small tables for sitting. There were many menu items highlighted at the counter, so it took me some time to figure out what I wanted to order.
The cafe's menu includes specialty Aerofoam drinks, classic espresso beverages, juices, teas, and baked goods. The shop is most known for its Aerofoam coffees, which are the shop's renditions of Dalgona coffee. As explained on the cafe's Instagram, Aerofoam is a layer of freeze-dried coffee that's turned "into an ultra-smooth, creamy textured espresso cloud that is poured on top of the milk of your choice." The foam is said to have a light, airy finish.
Since I came to try the "Dalgona-style" beverages, I ordered the Iced Osmanthus Oolong Aerofoam and the Pull-Tab Duo, which included the shop's signature Aerofoam Coffee with Kaya Butter Toast.
I opted for the "Classic" Kaya Butter Toast, but the cafe also sells Chocolate Butter Toast and Peanut Butter Butter Toast, if that's more your style.
I also noticed a glass case filled with baked goods, so I decided to get an Oni Croissant, a savory pastry with chives and bacon.
In total, my four items came out to just under $30.
Everything looked SO delicious, so I was curious to see how it all tasted.
First, I tried the Iced Classic Aerofoam coffee.
This was essentially an upgraded, gourmet Dalgona coffee. Compared to the drinks I used to make at home, the foam had a strong coffee flavor, and you could taste the faintest bit of sugar – I'll admit it was slightly better than my homemade Dalgona drinks. However, the consistency of the Aerofoam was a little lighter than that of a Dalgona coffee, which made it more difficult to mix around than classic Dalgona coffees. For this reason, I actually liked the drink more after I drank all the foam, because the remaining milk had time to soak up the espresso bits, turning it into more of a cohesive coffee-milk drink. Rating: 7.5/10
From what I saw on social media, people recommended dipping the Kaya Butter Toast in the Aerofoam, so it only felt right to try this next.
The toast was more like a sandwich with thick slabs of butter between layers of Kaya (Singaporean Coconut Jam).
On its own, the Kaya Butter Toast was honestly pretty underwhelming. It tasted like standard butter toast — there was nothing special about it. The bread itself tasted like generic, grocery store bread, and I thought the bread would've been more fluffy or flavorful. Most disappointingly, the flavor of the Kaya was too subtle. For $6, I expected a lot more – I felt like I could've easily replicated this at home and made it better. However, I did like the pairing of the toast with the Aerofoam slightly better. The butter paired nicely with the coffee foam and brought out its rich espresso flavor. Rating: 6.75/10
People also mentioned the Oni Croissant in their social media reviews, so I had high hopes for how it would taste.
Inside of the croissant, there was a creamy filling with chives and bacon.
Overall, I liked this. The croissant was buttery and chewy, and had a glaze over it that made it sticky. The filling reminded me of a creamier quiche-like filling, and there was a good ratio of bacon to chives. Eaten together, the croissant and filling tasted like a decadent, flavorful, doughy sandwich of sorts. That said, I could really only finish half of this because it was pretty heavy, but it was delicious.Rating: 8/10
Last but not least, I tried the Osmanthus Oolong Aerofoam.
Of everything I ordered, this drink was my favorite.
Essentially, this drink is an iced Osmanthus Oolong Tea topped with the Aerofoam. Considering I'm less of a tea person than I am a coffee person, I was surprised that I ended up liking this the most. Compared to the classic Aerofoam, I found this to be way more flavorful, refreshing, and unique. The tea had a subtle sweetness to it that brought out the flavor of the coffee foam, and it was beautiful. Interestingly, the coffee foam tasted slightly more bitter in this than it did in the classic, but was still delicious. I also thought the Osmanthus leaves made the drink look so pretty, so that's a bonus. I had no complaints about this drink, truly. Rating: 9/10
Overall, I would recommend Pull Tab Coffee for anyone who's looking to get their Dalgona-style coffee fix.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Whether you're looking to get your Dalgona coffee fix or just want to amp up your favorite morning bev, download the Tasty app to browse all of our favorite coffee recipes.
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