Name: Café de Olla
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 4 tbsp Cold Brew Coffee; 80 g Piloncillo; 2 sticks Cinnamon; 2 Cloves; 1 strip Orange; 1 l Sparkling Water

Mexican · Drink · All year

Café de Olla

4.6 community

Prep

15m

Cook

Easy

Level

kcal

Clay-pot coffee the Mexican way: dark coffee simmered with piloncillo's smoky raw sugar and cinnamon — sweet, spiced, and ceremonial.

What you need

Ingredients

Servings

4 tbsp

☕ Cold Brew Coffee ›

grounds — coarse dark roast, 4 heaped tbsp

80 g

🟤 Piloncillo ›

chopped — or dark brown sugar

2 sticks

🟤 Cinnamon ›

🟤 Cloves ›

1 strip

🍊 Orange ›

peel

1 l

💧 Sparkling Water ›

water

Add all to shopping list

Mise en place

Before you start

Prep

15m

Cook

20m

Total

Serves

Equipment

Blender or shaker

Tall glass

Prep checklist

Cold Brew Coffee — grounds — coarse dark roast, 4 heaped tbsp

Piloncillo — chopped — or dark brown sugar

Orange — peel

Sparkling Water — water

3 steps

Method

Simmer water, piloncillo, cinnamon, cloves, and orange peel 5 minutes until the sugar melts into spiced syrup.

Off the heat, stir in the coffee grounds; steep 5 minutes, then strain through fine mesh.

💡

Piloncillo's molasses smoke is the flavor — plain sugar makes sweet coffee; piloncillo makes café de olla.

Serve in small cups (traditionally clay). Sweet by design; adjust with more coffee, never less sugar — that's the drink.

From the chef

Notes

Taste before serving and adjust salt and acid — the last 30 seconds of seasoning matter more than any single ingredient.

Afterwards

Keep, reheat & pair

Storage

Best the day it's made; syrups and bases keep a week refrigerated.

Freezing

Freeze bases into cubes for instant future drinks.

Reheating

Serve as intended — hot drinks fresh, cold drinks over plenty of ice.

Make ahead

Syrups and bases keep a week refrigerated; freeze fruit for instant thick blends.

Wine pairing

This is the drink.

Beer pairing

This is the drink.

On the plate

Serve it with

Sides

Shortbread or biscotti

Salted nuts

Garnish

A citrus wheel

Fresh mint

A cinnamon stick for warm drinks

Taste map

Flavor profile

Sweet

Salty

Sour

Bitter

Umami

Heat

Per serving

Nutrition

kcal

protein

20g

carbs

fat

fiber

18g

sugar

520mg

sodium

Just for you

My notes

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