Get DAE café's recipe: Misugaru 미숫가루 Latte

Move over matcha — this old school Korean multigrain drink's revival is upon us

The beige powder on top is Misugaru.

Love a malty flavor in your latte? Then you’ll love Misugaru (미숫가루). It’s a caffeine free beverage that Koreans have been drinking for centuries.

This recipe is inspired by the Misguaru latte at DAE, a tranquil homeware and design shop, café, wine bar, and private event space all rolled into one. DAE is what would happen if your cool friend from art school decided to open a café in NYC. The mugwort latte and matcha affogato are a must try.

Inside DAE. Furniture inspired by my favorite, Donald Judd.

Misugaru is a powder made from roasted multigrains. Every recipe makes it differently but here are some of the common grains used to make Misugaru (in English and Korean).

• Sweet Rice (찹쌀 chapssal)

• Short Grain Rice (멥쌀 maepssal)

• Job’s Tears (율무 yulmu)

• Millet (좁쌀 jobssal)

• Brown Rice (현미 hyeonmi)

• Oats (귀리 kwiri)

• Sorghum (수수 susu)

• Black Soy Beans (서리태 seoritae)

• Barley (보리 bori)

• Brown Sweet Rice (현미찹쌀 hyeonmi chapssal)

• Black Rice (흑미 heukmi)

• Soybeans (메주콩 meju kong)

• Black Sesame seeds (검정깨 Geomjeong kkae) – not a grain but added for flavor

• Perilla seeds (들깨 deulkkae) – not a grain but added for flavor

History books date Koreans consuming this powder all the way back to 800 AD in the Three Kindgom period of Korea. Misugaru has also been used as military food during wars because once grain is cooked and dried, it doesn’t spoil easily and will provide most of the essential nutrients for survival.

Homewares on sale at DAE.

Where to buy Misugaru powder:

Korean Grocery Stores will likely have instant misugaru and pure misugaru in stock. You can also buy misugaru online.

Recipe difficulty rating: beginner

From this week onwards, I’ll be sharing a song pairing I think embodies the spirit of each recipe, for fun. Let me know in the comments what song each recipe brings to mind for you.

Song pairing: Akatombo by Ichiko Aoba

Ingredients: (serving size: 1 drink)

• 1 cup milk of your choice, cold or heated as desired

• 1.5 tbsp honey

• 3 tbsp Misugaru powder

• ice cubes

Misugaru Dalgona Whip topping (optional)

• 1/4 cup water

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1 egg white

• 1.5 tsp Misugaru powder

Cooking Appliances:

• milk foamer (recommended)

• bamboo tea whisk (recommended)

• fine mesh strainer (recommended)

• saucepan

• cup

• measuring cup and tbsp

Instructions:

For the Misugaru Latte:

Note: If adding Misugaru Dalgona Whip, do NOT sweeten this latte base and add only 1.5 tbsp of misugaru powder to your latte base because the Dalgona whip will be very sweet!

• Prepare your desired type of milk.

• If drinking warm, add milk to a pan and heat up. Add the honey and stir until fully dissolved.

• Sift the misugaru powder through a fine mesh strainer into your drinking cup or mug. Then pour a small amount (1 tsp worth) of your sweetened or unsweetened milk in with the misugar powder and use a bamboo tea whisk to disperse the powder into the liquid to avoid clumping. Froth the rest of your milk to form your desired amount of foam and pour it into the cup.

• Add ice cubes as desired. Top with misugaru dalgona whip if desired (recipe below).

For the Misugaru Dalgona Whip (optional but recommended):

• Create Misugaru Latte, but add no sweetner to this latte base because the Dalgona Misugaru whip will be very sweet. Set aside.

• Make Dalgona Whip: In a medium pot, boil 1/4 cup of water with 1/4 cup sugar. Over medium heat, stir until a syrup develops (mix often!).

• With a hand mixer, beat 1 egg white. Once stiff peaks form, add in desired amount of sugar syrup, and continue to beat egg whites. Add in 1.5 tsp of Misugaru while beating egg whites. Set aside once thickened.

• Add this whip on top of Misugaru latte. I like to mix some of the whip in and leave some to rest on the top!

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