Love all things coffee? This chilled Japanese coffee jelly is a refreshing dessert to enjoy on a hot summer day. Enjoy it plain or with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.
Coffee Jelly (コーヒーゼリー) is a popular Japanese dessert and a true summertime delight! If you’re all for caffeinated desserts, you will fall in love with the mild sweetness and the big coffee flavor it offers. Top this gelatin dessert with a dollop of fresh whipped cream or a spoonful of half and half, oh my, you’d be in heaven!
Table of contents
What is Coffee Jelly?
To put it simply, coffee jelly is gelatinized coffee. A rich and silky coffee jello.
Made of black coffee, gelatin powder, and sugar, coffee jelly or kohii zerii can be found on the menus in many restaurants, cafes, and bakeries in Japan. This chilled dessert is typically served in small cups, and sometimes the jelly is cut into cubes and served in a cup with whipped cream or milk.
While Jell-O desserts have been deemed out of fashion in the US and England, coffee jelly — and many other jelly desserts — never go out of style in Japan. In fact, its popularity lives on even though coffee jelly has been trendy since the 1960s when a Japanese coffee shop chain introduced it in their menu. We enjoy our Jello-Os not only are they light and refreshing, but they also have a solid place in Japan’s culinary history.
The Japanese love a little quick pick-me-up so you can even find pre-made coffee jelly sold in small plastic cups in supermarkets and konbini convenience stores!
Ingredients for Coffee Jelly
It cannot be any easier to make coffee jelly at home! You’ll need only four ingredients.
- Water
- Kanten powder (sub with gelatin or agar agar)
- Sugar
- Instant coffee (or instant espresso coffee for stronger flavor)
In my recipe, I used kanten powder instead of gelatin to make it vegetarian friendly. Kanten is a natural vegetable gelatin made of edible seaweed which can be found at Japanese and Asian grocery stores or online.
If you are going to substitute powdered kanten with gelatin powder or agar agar, use a double portion. My recipe note below explains more.
How to Make Coffee Jelly
- Combine water and kanten powder in a small saucepan. Whisk and bring the liquid to a boil.
- Once boiling, add sugar and instant coffee and cook for 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Pour into serving dishes. Once the coffee jelly cools down, cover with lids or with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours, or until the jelly has set.
- Serve it chilled.
Different Ways to Enjoy Coffee Jelly
For an elegant presentation, serve the dessert solid in glass dishes like how I made them here. You can also pour the coffee mixture in a baking pan, cut into cubes and serve them in a bowl.
You can even add the jiggly, translucent cubes of coffee jelly into your milkshakes, lattes, ice cream float, or sundaes for additional flavor and texture! It will instantly level up your dessert games.
My favorite way to serve coffee jelly is with whipped cream on top. Or try it with a few tablespoons of half & half.
It is truly a simple yet lovely dessert. I often serve coffee jelly as a summer dessert, but every now and then, I’ll have it for afternoon tea break and imagine myself in a little cafe in Japan.
More Japanese Dessert Recipes You’ll Love
- Japanese Cheesecake
- Tofu Pudding (Blancmange)
- Fruit Jelly
- Orange Jelly
- 10-Minute Japanese Custard Pudding
- No-Bake Creme Caramel
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Easy Japanese Coffee Jelly
Video
Ingredients
- 2½ cups water
- 1½ tsp kanten powder (see Notes; to substitute powdered kanten with gelatin powder or agar agar, test first using a double portion and see if it sets, as each brand of gelatin/kanten/agar sets differently; gelatin won‘t solidify if you heat the mixture too long while kanten requires cooking for 2–3 minutes)
- 5 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp instant coffee
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a small saucepan, combine 2½ cups water and 1½ tsp kanten powder and whisk together. Then, bring the liquid to a boil over high heat.
- Once boiling, turn down the heat to a simmer. Add 5 Tbsp sugar and 2 Tbsp instant coffee and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Pour into serving dishes. Scoop up any bubbles on the surface with a spoon and discard. Once the coffee jelly cools down, wrap with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for 4–5 hours.
To Serve
- Serve with whipped cream, mint, and a coffee bean on top. It‘s not vegan-friendly, but the coffee jelly is great with 1–2 Tbsp of half & half poured on top.
To Store
- You can keep the coffee jelly in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Notes
- Kanten powder = 1 tsp (2 g)
- Kanten stick = ½ stick (4 g)
- Kanten thread = 12 threads (4 g)
I use this recipe with agar powder. But I use same amount as kanten powder. Double amounts were too much. I wonder why other people has different results.
Hello there, Miho. Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
As Nami indicated on the recipe card, the textures vary depending on the brand.
You can read more about Kanten in this post. We hope this helps!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/agar-agar-kanten/
This is soooo so good! And very easy to whip up! I’ve made it a few times now and will make it many more times. I use agar powder and did almost 3 teaspoons agar yesterday, could use even slightly more. But very delicious melt-in-your-mouth goodness. I didn’t have cream yesterday and topped with about a tablespoon of condensed milk. Wow, You have just got to try that one time 😉 thank you so much for this recipe!!
Hi Ina! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed homemade Coffee Jelly!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
And Yes! condensed milk is sooo good too.😁
I actually made this twice in two days! the first time I overcooked the gelatin and it ended up not setting correctly (could you mention that for rookie cooks?) and the second time I used instant espresso instead of regular (because my regular instant coffee sucked). I think that about one rounded tablespoon of instant espresso is about the same strength.
And yes, I’m here because of Saiki K.
Either way, it’s delicious and perfect and I’m going to start running out of instant coffee real fast
Hi Joey! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your experience with us!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Homemade coffee jelly!
The texture and qq-ness of this coffee jelly’s recipe is simply perfecto!
Hi Tan, We are glad to hear you enjoyed this Coffee Jelly! Thank you for trying this recipe!
super excited to try coffee jelly! i’ve never made jelly or jello before and am realizing i don’t know how much it needs to be cooled before refrigerating. should it be cold, or lukewarm? thanks for the recipe!
Hi Shay,
When the jelly becomes less warm or closer to room temperature, you can place it in the refrigerator. 😉
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami, I attempted this recipe and followed every step, but for some reason my jelly refuses to set/solidify. What could have wrong?
Hi Michelle! Thanks so much for trying this recipe! It’s possible that kanten did not dissolve well… that’s what I read before for trouble shooting. The ratio should work well. Anything you made changes to the recipe?