A popular quarantine fad to whip up a foamy beverage at home is helping drive sales of instant coffee.

The Dalgona coffee sensation has flooded social media as people forced into isolation attempt to make the creamy and energizing concoction. The recipe is simple: Whisk equal parts of instant coffee, sugar and hot water until they turn into a frothy whip, then spoon over iced milk. Google Trends show searches for Dalgona coffee accelerated sharply from early March onward.

Initial data point to a “massive rise” in demand for instant coffee, far higher than before the pandemic, said Jonny Forsyth, associate director for food and drink at market research company Mintel. Consumers in lockdown began stockpiling instant coffee to give them energy and psychological comfort, while the product’s affordability makes it recession-resistant, he said.

Nestle SA, the world’s largest food and beverage company, says sales of instant coffee increased in most markets as closures of restaurants and cafes boost home consumption and consumers are “rediscovering” the instant variety. The company, which recently launched a Starbucks premium instant coffee range, also produces the popular brand Nescafe, which, it says, makes up one out of every seven cups of coffee drunk in the world.

“Consumers are spending more time at home and trying new recipes, reproducing for themselves the experience they enjoy in restaurants and cafés,” said Philipp Navratil, global head of Beverage Strategic Business Units at Nestle. “Dalgona coffee is just one example of the global trends we see in the coffee category.” That’s as instant coffee is adapted for making recipes in a convenient way, which could lead to a sustained increase in demand, he said.