is a jelly dessert flavored with

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

. Although once common in

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and American cookbooks, it is now most common in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, where it can be found in most restaurants and

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

s. Coffee jelly can be made using an instant mix or from scratch. It is served in restaurants and cafés. Coffee jelly is also frequently used in bubble tea/coffees.

History

Recipes for coffee jelly appear in cookbooks published in England as early as 1817. The earliest recipes call for coffee to be mixed with calves' foot jelly and sometimes call for

isinglass Isinglass ( ) is a form of collagen obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. The English word origin is from the obsolete Dutch ''huizenblaas'' – ''huizen'' is a kind of sturgeon, and ''blaas'' is a bladder, or German ''Hausenblase'', ...

or other clarifiers. After the introduction of packaged gelatin, most recipes called for the gelatin to be dissolved in the hot coffee and then molded. In the early 20th century, coffee jelly was promoted as a healthier alternative to hot coffee, as it was thought the gelatin would absorb excess acid in the stomach.

Jell-O Jell-O (stylized in all caps) is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert ( genericized as jello) is the signature of ...

launched a short-lived coffee gelatin mix in 1918, but the dessert never gained widespread popularity outside of New England. Nowadays, coffee jelly may still be found in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and other New England states.

Durgin-Park Durgin-Park ( ) was a centuries-old restaurant at 340 Faneuil Hall Marketplace in downtown Boston. The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau stated that it had been a "landmark since 1827", and it was a popular tourist destination within ...

restaurant in Boston, which opened in 1827, still offered coffee gelatin made with leftover coffee from the previous day as of 2016. Japanese coffee jelly was developed during the Taishō period (1912–1926) in imitation of European molded jellies. It appealed to modern young men with tastes for Western fashion and rose in popularity along with café culture. Coffee jelly has remained popular in Japan and is still widely available.

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

launched a coffee jelly

frappuccino Frappuccino is a line of blended iced coffee drinks sold by Starbucks. It may consist of coffee or crème base, blended with ice and ingredients such as flavored syrups and usually topped with whipped cream and/or spices. It may also include blen ...

in Japan in 2016.

Description

Coffee jelly is made from sweetened coffee added to

agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from " ogonori" and " tengusa". As found in nature, agar is a mixture of two components, t ...

, a gelatinous substance made from

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

and called ' in Japanese. It may also be made from

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine () is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also be referred to as hydrolyzed collagen, coll ...

rather than agar, which is more common in European and American cuisine. It is often cut into cubes and served in a variety of

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

dishes and beverages. Cubes of coffee jelly are sometimes added to

milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. It may ...

s, at the bottom of an

ice cream float An ice cream float or ice cream soda, also known as an ice cream spider in Australia and New Zealand, is a chilled beverage made by adding ice cream to a soft drink or to a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water. When root beer and van ...

, or to garnish an ice cream

sundae A sundae (Sunday Ice) () is an ice cream frozen dessert of American origin that typically consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with a sweet sauce or syrup and other toppings such as sprinkles, whipped cream, marshmallows, chocola ...

. Coffee jelly is often added to a cup of hot or iced coffee, with

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

and gum syrup added.

Condensed milk Condensed milk is Milk#Cow, cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of sweetened condensed milk, to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condensed m ...

is poured over cubes of chilled coffee jelly in a bowl.

Popular culture

Coffee jelly has appeared numerous times in the manga and anime series '' The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.'' as the main character Saiki K's favorite food.

Citations

General sources

* {{cite book , last = White , first = Merry I. , year = 2012 , title = Coffee Life in Japan , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=98gFtthZo0AC , series = California studies in food and culture, 36 , location = Berkeley, California , publisher = University of California Press , pages
122–123
{{Subscription required , isbn = 978-0-520-25933-1 , oclc = 747331872 Jelly Jams and jellies Japanese desserts and sweets

History

Description

Popular culture

See also

Citations

General sources