Cafe de Olla
Café de ollaka-FEH deh OY-ya
A dark, sweet, cinnamon-scented coffee with molasses depth from piloncillo and a bright edge of orange. It tastes of the same autumn spices as pumpkin spice, without the pumpkin and with a few hundred years more history.
At a glance
- Coffee : water
- 1:20
- Active time
- 5 min
- Total time
- 20 min
- Makes
- 4 mugs
- Serve
- Hot, in clay mugs
- Kit
- Clay pot or saucepan
Ingredients
Note: Without piloncillo, use 70 g dark muscovado sugar and a teaspoon of molasses.
Method
-
Simmer the sugar and spice
Put the water, piloncillo, cinnamon, orange peel and cloves in the pot and bring it to the boil. Turn it down and simmer for about ten minutes, stirring now and then, until the piloncillo has dissolved and the water is dark amber and smells of cinnamon.
Simmer 10 minutes -
Off the heat, coffee in
Take the pot off the heat and wait thirty seconds. Stir in the coffee.
Off the heat is the important part. Boiling coffee for minutes, as some recipes say, makes it bitter and harsh.
-
Steep, covered
Cover and leave it to steep for five minutes.
Steep 5 minutes -
Strain and serve
Pour it through a fine sieve or a cloth into clay mugs or a jug. Taste it. Add a little more piloncillo dissolved in hot water if you want it sweeter.
Serve it hot, black. Milk is not traditional, though no one will stop you.
Why this works
Piloncillo is unrefined cane sugar, boiled down and set in cones, so it still carries the molasses that refined sugar has had removed. That molasses is what gives café de olla its depth: bitter, smoky, caramel notes that sit beside a dark roast rather than just sweetening it. White sugar makes a thinner, sweeter, flatter drink.
Cinnamon is the main aroma, and the type matters. Mexican canela is Ceylon cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum, with a softer, more floral flavour and much less coumarin than the cassia most supermarkets sell. Cassia in this quantity tastes harsh and almost hot. Simmering the spices first for ten minutes gives the cinnamaldehyde and eugenol time to infuse fully before the coffee, which extracts in minutes, goes in.
Steeping the coffee off the boil is a correction to how the drink is often written. Boiling ground coffee for several minutes extracts far too much and drives off its aroma, leaving a bitter, flat pot. At 90 to 95°C with a coarse grind and five minutes of contact, it behaves like a large French press and tastes clean.
The clay pot, the olla, is said to give the coffee an earthy note, and it does keep the brew hot. It also carries a real risk: traditional Mexican glazed pottery has often contained lead, and acidic liquids like coffee can leach it. Use a pot sold as lead free or a stainless steel saucepan. The drink is often linked to the soldaderas of the Mexican Revolution, who are said to have brewed it in camps, and whatever the exact truth, it has been the rural Mexican coffee for generations.
Variations
- With star anise: one pod with the cinnamon, common in some regions.
- With chocolate: a disc of Mexican drinking chocolate dissolved with the piloncillo.
- Iced: chill the strained coffee, pour over ice with a splash of milk. It is very good this way.
- With a shot of mezcal or rum: an evening version, poured into the mug.
Traditional glazed clay pots can contain lead, which leaches into hot, acidic liquids like coffee. Use a pot sold as lead free, or a stainless steel saucepan.
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Questions
What is café de olla?
Mexican coffee steeped with piloncillo, cinnamon and often orange peel, traditionally in a clay pot called an olla.
Can I make café de olla without piloncillo?
Yes. Use dark muscovado sugar with a teaspoon of molasses, or panela. White sugar works but loses the molasses depth.
Do you boil the coffee in café de olla?
No. Simmer the sugar and spices, then take the pot off the heat before stirring in the coffee and steeping for five minutes. Boiling the coffee makes it bitter.
Is it safe to use a clay pot?
Only if it is sold as lead free. Many traditional glazes contain lead, which can leach into coffee. A stainless steel pan is a safe substitute.
What cinnamon is used in café de olla?
Mexican canela, which is Ceylon cinnamon. It is softer and more floral than cassia, which can taste harsh in this quantity.