Cafe de Olla is a spiced black filter coffee sweetened with palm sugar, popularized in Mexico.
The spices enhance the coffee in such a way that your cold bones are warmed up instantly!
That's why Cafe de Olla is a favorite during cold winter days. And to our luck, it's super easy to prepare Cafe de Olla from A-Z!
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What is Caffee de Olla?
This particular Black Coffee is a traditional Mexican hot spiced beverage sweetened with whole sugar cane.
The Mexican sugar cane cone or blocks are known as Piloncillo and come in different shapes, just like the Asian and African Jaggery, the Brazilian Rapadura or the Columbian Panela.
Sugar cane lends the Café de Olla a certain strong sweet and earthen, captivating flavor.
Besides the ingredients, it's important to know that the traditional cafe de olla is prepared in an earthen clay pot. De Olla literally means Earthenware/clay pot!
For all those of us who live in the 21st century, we still have the option of using a regular pot and stove to prepare our cup of hot cafe de olla.
These days, it's more common to make cafe de olla in a regular pot and on a regular gas stove, then pour the magical hot beverage into earthen cups. In that sense, you can still call it a cafe de olla.
Preparation Overview
Step 1
Boil water and add jaggery, cinnamon, star anise, and clove, letting the palm sugar dissolve as it simmers.
Step 2
Stir in the black coffee and let it simmer for about 5 minutes over low heat.
Step 3
Filter the coffee to remove sediments and spices, then reheat and serve in clay cups.
📖 Recipe
Cafe de Olla Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups Water
- ⅔ cups Piloncillo sugar cane, jaggery
- 1 Cinnamon stick 4 inches long
- 1 Star Anise
- 1 Clove Whole
- 5 Tablespoon Coffee Powder
- Paper Filters to filter coffee spices
Instructions
- Keep a pot with the water to cook and add the sugar cane (Jaggery/Piloncillo). Mix the sugar caner into the water, it won't dissolve directly but gradually while the coffee is cooking.
- Continue to add in the spices: cinnamon stick, star anise, and clove. Make sure at this point that the water is cooking.
- Then add the black coffee and mix into the liquid.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes over slow heat.
- At the end, we need to filter the coffee because of the fine ground coffee sediments and sometimes the sugar cane can have impurities (that is why I don't add the sugar cane while serving) and besides we need to pick out the spices. So, what you do is you get a regular coffee filter, don't use a strainer it won't work, and best is if you just place the coffee filter into a filter coffee machine and then just pour the cafe de olla into the filter gradually one batch at a time. The coffee will get filtered and drip slowly into the jar below as it would do with regular coffee in the machine.
- After you have filtered the coffee you can heat up your coffee again to serve hot.
- Serve in earthenware/clay pots.
Notes
- I use a stronger variety of coffee blend for this cafe de olla recipe. I choose peaberry, freshly roasted and finely ground and roasted coffee beans, but you can use something like Arabica too if you want your coffee a bit milder.
Meenakshi J says
This is definitely a healthy and an organic way of preparing coffee...I wonder how will it taste with my South-Indian filter coffee ..Hmmm...
And,I loved the run-up story to the recipe.Looks like I need to be well-dressed whenever we meet.You are quite an observer *wink wink*
Your post brought back the fond childhood memories of my long train journeys.
Nothing to beat the experience of Indian trains 😀
Helene Dsouza says
Meenakshi I use South Indian coffee too, it's called Peaberry and it's rather strong in taste and effect. 😀
Anu says
I am fascinated by the story of your discovery of Cafe De Olla. The connections that we make when we something familiar is amazing like your friend remembered her coffee on seeing the small earthen pots or Kulhads as we call them. I am not sure how the tea mixed with coffee tasted except for the flavor lent by the kulhad.
I remember I liked the roadside coffee in Indonesia that had a very textured feel on the tongue, was definitely made with some cane sugar and was thick - it tasted heavenly though.
mjskitchen says
Oh I do have to make this! I love a spiced coffee and this one just looks amazing!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Wow, this is such an informative post, I've never had this kind of coffee but I can't wait to try it!
Marie - Not Enough Cinnamon says
What an adventure! I had never heard of cafe de olla before and I wish I liked coffee because the spice combo sounds awesome!
Kristi says
I'll share this with my husband. He loves to get creative with his coffee and likes to find strong coffee.
Julia says
This sounds like delicious! I know you mentioned that no strainer but do you think a cheesecloth would work here?
Helene Dsouza says
I have not tried it but it might just work out as well too. I am used to coffee filters because I know how long it would take for the coffee to drip into the jar below. I can't say the same for a cheesecloth, however technically there is no reason why you can't filter the café de olla with a cheesecloth.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
I loved your train story -- well done. Now, that coffee would wake a person up. In fact, this is just the pick-me-up I need this morning. I'm saving the recipe.
Alyssa says
I didn't know what Cafe de Olla was but once you said it involved Piloncillo, it sparked something! I think I've had this, never nice.
I also loved your train story and how you were introduced to it!
David @ Cooking Chat says
sounds like quite a train trip...and some tasty coffee!