Cookie not appended in ASP.NET Core?

I try to add cookies to the response in a ASP.NET Core 3.1 Web Application. The issue is that the cookie is not appended to the response.This is the code:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)
    {
        if (env.IsDevelopment())
        {
            app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
        }

        app.UseRouting();

        app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
        {
            endpoints.MapGet("/", async context =>
            {
                await context.Response.WriteAsync("Hello World!\n");

                string cookieValueFromContext = context.Request.Cookies["hello"];

                await context.Response.WriteAsync($"Response: {cookieValueFromContext}");

                context.Response.Cookies.Append("hello", "cookie", new CookieOptions
                {
                    MaxAge = TimeSpan.FromDays(10),
                    IsEssential = true

                });

                await context.Response.WriteAsync("Ending");
            });

        });

       
    }

And this is what I see in browser:

I tried to debug the application the debug stops at the append cookie method, no exception is raised. Message Ending is not displayed. In browser (Chrome) no cookie is stored, I checked Application/Cookies, not even after reload. From my knowledge I do not need to add Cookie Policy Option if the cookie is set as essential. From what I read on other posts the browser might choose which cookies to consider essential, even if you set it as essential. Could this be the case ?