[4] It was popularized on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people refraining from going out started making videos of whipping the coffee at home, by hand without using electrical mixers.

The drink did not yield much interest to him until 2004 when he took on the idea to serve it as a specialty to Chow Yun-fat and his entourage who visited the Hon Kee café that year.

The name "dalgona coffee" is credited to the South Korean actor Jung Il-woo, who ordered this drink at the same eatery in January 2020 during his appearance on TV show called Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant (신상출시 편스토랑).

[7][8][9] Following the broadcast of that TV programme, dalgona coffee became popular among Koreans who attempted to make this drink for themselves during the social distancing orders in South Korea.

[5][10] Under the hashtag #dalgonacoffeechallenge, homemade versions of dalgona coffee began spreading on South Korean YouTube channels before going viral on TikTok especially in early March of the same year.