# Café de Olla

Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/cafe-de-olla/
Last updated: 2026-10-20

> Simmer water with piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar) and a cinnamon stick, traditionally in a clay pot, until the sugar dissolves. Take it off the boil, stir in ground coffee and let it steep for a few minutes, then strain or let the grounds settle. One recipe uses 1.5 litres of water, 90 g of piloncillo and about 45 g of coffee for six cups.

## At a glance

- Ratio: About 1:33, plus 90 g piloncillo (45 g coffee : 1500 g water)
- Grind: Medium-coarse
- Water temperature: Simmered, then off the boil
- Category: Boiled & Traditional (Boiled)
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Origin: Mexico
- Also known as: Mexican pot coffee, Mexican spiced coffee, café de olla mexicano

## Steps

1. **Heat the water and spices**: Put 1.5 litres of water in the pot with 90 g of piloncillo and a cinnamon stick, and heat it, stirring until the piloncillo dissolves.
2. **Boil briefly**: Let it boil for a few minutes so the cinnamon and piloncillo flavour the water. El Universal's recipe boils it for 5 minutes.
3. **Add the coffee**: Turn the heat off (or right down so it doesn't boil again) and stir in about 45 g of ground coffee.
4. **Steep**: Cover and leave it to steep for at least 8 minutes, so the grounds settle.
5. **Strain and serve**: Strain it, or ladle it carefully off the settled grounds, into small clay cups (jarritos).

**Café de olla** ("pot coffee") is Mexico's traditional spiced coffee: ground coffee steeped with **piloncillo**, an unrefined cane sugar, and **cinnamon**, ideally in an **earthen clay pot** (*olla de barro*) that's said to give it a special flavour. Wikipedia notes it's drunk especially in **cold climates and rural areas**, and families add their own touches, from cloves to orange peel. It's sweet, warming and quick to make for a crowd. Here's how, with quantities from three published recipes.

## The short version

- **Simmer water with piloncillo and cinnamon** until the sugar dissolves.
- **Take it off the boil** and stir in ground coffee.
- **Steep, covered, for about 8 minutes**, then strain or let the grounds settle.
- **One recipe:** 1.5 litres of water, 90 g of piloncillo, 1 cinnamon stick and about 45 g of coffee for six cups.
- **Serve in small clay cups** (*jarritos*).



## What goes into café de olla?

According to the *Diccionario enciclopédico de la gastronomía mexicana*, as quoted by El Universal, café de olla is made from **ground coffee, water, cinnamon and piloncillo**. Common extras include:

- **Cloves** (*clavos de olor*)
- **Orange or lemon peel**
- **Anise**, including star anise
- **Mexican chocolate** (*chocolate de metate*), in some recipes

**Piloncillo** is unrefined whole cane sugar, sold in hard cones and also known as **panela** or *panelón*. It gives the coffee a deep, molasses-like sweetness.

## How much coffee, piloncillo and water?

Recipes differ a lot, especially in sweetness:

| Recipe | Water | Piloncillo | Coffee | Spices |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| El Diario NY | 1.5 litres (6 cups) | 90 g | About 45 g | 1 cinnamon stick |
| El Universal | 6 cups | 200 g | 6 tablespoons | 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 cloves |
| *El libro clásico de la Navidad en México* (1998) | 6 cups | 100 g | 100 g | Cinnamon, 2 cloves, 50 g Mexican chocolate |
| La Opinión | 2 litres | 1 medium piece | 1 cup, freshly ground | 2 cinnamon sticks, star anise, orange peel |

The El Diario NY recipe works out at roughly **1:33** coffee to water, much weaker than most brewing ratios, because the piloncillo and spices carry a lot of the flavour. If you like it stronger, use more coffee; if you like it less sweet, start at the lower piloncillo amounts.

## How do you make café de olla, step by step?

This follows El Diario NY's quantities and El Universal's method:

1. **Heat the water** in the pot with **90 g of piloncillo** and **a cinnamon stick** (and cloves, if you like), stirring with a wooden spoon until the piloncillo dissolves.
2. **Boil for a few minutes** to concentrate the flavour; El Universal boils it for 5 minutes.
3. **Turn the heat off**, or right down so it doesn't boil again, and **stir in about 45 g of ground coffee**.
4. **Cover and steep for at least 8 minutes**, so the coffee "settles", as El Diario NY puts it.
5. **Strain** it, or ladle it carefully off the grounds, into *jarritos* or mugs.

![Chart of coffee grind sizes from extra fine to extra coarse, with medium-coarse highlighted for café de olla](https://dailyextraction.com/diagrams/grind-size.svg#medium-coarse "Café de olla is steeped like a French press, so a medium-coarse grind is easy to strain.")

The recipes don't specify a grind. Because the coffee steeps loose in the pot, I'd use a **medium-coarse** grind, like a French press, so it settles and strains easily.

## Do you need a clay pot?

A clay pot is traditional, and Wikipedia calls it essential for the flavour. Sopitas notes that while a clay pot was once a must, an **enamelled steel pot** (*olla de peltre*) is now widely accepted. Some regions do it differently again: La Opinión says that in places such as **Veracruz**, the ingredients are tied in muslin and dipped in boiling water.

If you use **glazed clay**, choose pottery sold as lead-free from a trusted seller. The **US FDA** has warned that some traditional pottery from Mexico, even when labelled "lead free", has contained extractable lead that can leach into food and drink.

## Where does café de olla come from?

Café de olla is firmly Mexican, and drunk especially in **rural and colder areas**. A popular story says it began during the **Mexican Revolution** (1910–1920), when the **Adelitas**, or *soldaderas*, women who travelled with the armies, brewed coffee with spices and piloncillo to warm and energise the troops. El Universal cites the publication *Claridades Agropecuarias* for this account, and adds that a splash of tequila (*piquete*) was sometimes added. It's a lovely story, but it isn't documented history, so treat it as **legend**.

*General guidance only. Take care with boiling water and hot clay, and only use cookware that's safe for food.*

## Café de olla vs other methods

- **[Cowboy coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/cowboy-coffee/):** coffee boiled in a pot over a fire, without the spices.
- **[Turkish coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/turkish-coffee/):** powder-fine coffee boiled with sugar in a cezve.
- **[Arabic coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/arabic-qahwa/):** light-roast coffee boiled with cardamom.
- **[Kokkaffe](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/kokkaffe/):** Swedish boiled coffee, settled in the pot.

Explore every boiled method in the [boiled chapter](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/boiled/).

## Words used in this guide

- [Steeping](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/steeping/): Steeping is leaving ground coffee to sit in water so its flavour dissolves out, as in a French press or cold brew.
- [Brew ratio](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/brew-ratio/): The brew ratio is the weight of coffee compared with the weight of water, written like 1:16 (1 g of coffee for every 16 g of water).
- [Agitation](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/agitation/): Agitation is any movement of the coffee and water during brewing, such as stirring, swirling or a turbulent pour.
- [Coffee concentrate](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/coffee-concentrate/): A coffee concentrate is coffee brewed much stronger than you would drink it, using less water, and then diluted with water, milk or ice to serve.

## FAQs

### What is café de olla?

A traditional Mexican coffee made with ground coffee, cinnamon and piloncillo, an unrefined cane sugar, ideally in an earthen clay pot (olla de barro). The name means pot coffee.

### What is piloncillo, and can I swap it?

Piloncillo is unrefined cane sugar sold in hard cones; it's also called panela or panelón. Another sugar will sweeten the coffee, but it won't taste the same.

### Do you need a clay pot?

Not strictly. A clay pot is traditional and said to add flavour, but Sopitas notes that an enamelled steel pot (olla de peltre) is now widely accepted. If you use glazed clay, buy pottery sold as lead-free from a trusted seller, because the FDA has warned about lead in some traditional Mexican pottery.

### What else goes in café de olla?

Optional extras include cloves, orange or lemon peel and anise. A 1998 Christmas cookbook recipe adds Mexican chocolate (chocolate de metate).

### Where does café de olla come from?

Mexico, where it's drunk especially in cold climates and rural areas. A popular story credits the Adelitas, women soldiers of the Mexican Revolution, but that origin is a legend rather than documented history.

## Sources

- [Café de olla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_de_olla)
- [Receta para preparar café de olla tradicional](https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/menu/receta-para-preparar-cafe-de-olla)
- [Cortadito, café de olla, café bombón: seis maneras de preparar café](https://eldiariony.com/?p=2907700)
- [Café de olla, 1998 (from El libro clásico de la Navidad en México)](https://lacocina.utsa.edu/?p=5360)
- [Café de olla: una clásica tradición mexicana](https://laopinion.com/2020/01/05/cafe-de-olla-una-clasica-tradicion-mexicana)
- [Un cafecito: 5 cosas que debes saber del café de olla](https://www.sopitas.com/?p=1372043)
- [Questions and answers on lead-glazed traditional pottery](https://www.fda.gov/food/environmental-contaminants-food/questions-and-answers-lead-glazed-traditional-pottery)