# Costa Rican Chorreador

Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/chorreador/
Last updated: 2026-10-19

> A chorreador is a wooden stand that holds a cloth filter bag, the bolsita, over a cup or pot. Rinse the bolsita with hot water, add about 20 g of coffee per 240 g of water and pour 50 g of water just off the boil to bloom it. Then pour the rest slowly in stages, to 240 g, and let it drip through the cloth: about 3 to 4 minutes. Rinse the bolsita without soap afterwards.

## At a glance

- Ratio: 1:12 (20 g coffee : 240 g water)
- Grind: Medium (sand)
- Water temperature: 90–96 °C
- Category: Cloth, Sock & Cultural Filter (Percolation)
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Origin: Costa Rica
- Also known as: chorreador de café, café chorreado, bolsita, Costa Rican coffee sock

## Steps

1. **Rinse the bolsita**: Hang the cloth bolsita in the stand over your cup or pot and rinse it with hot water, which also warms it. Pour that water away.
2. **Add the coffee**: Add about 20 g of coffee for every 240 g of water, or up to 300 g of water for a lighter cup.
3. **Bloom**: Pour 50 g of water just off the boil, about 90–96°C, to wet all the coffee evenly.
4. **Pour slowly**: Pour slowly in stages, to 100 g, 150 g, 200 g and 240 g, letting it drip through the cloth between pours. The whole brew takes about 3 to 4 minutes.
5. **Serve**: Lift the bolsita off when it has drained and serve, black or with milk.
6. **Rinse the cloth**: Empty the grounds and rinse the bolsita in hot water, without soap, then let it dry or keep it in water in the fridge.

The **chorreador** is how Costa Rica has traditionally made coffee at home: a simple **wooden stand** holding a **cloth filter bag**, the **bolsita**, over a cup or pot. You put coffee in the bag, pour hot water through it slowly, and it drips into the cup below. The coffee is called **café chorreado**. It's a [pour-over](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/v60/) with a **cloth filter**, which lets a little more of the coffee's oils through than paper. Here's how to use one.

## The short version

- **A wooden stand and a cloth bag**, the bolsita, over a cup or pot.
- **About 20 g of coffee to 240 g of water** (Cafetico), about 1:12.
- **Water just off the boil**, poured slowly in stages, for 3 to 4 minutes.
- **Cloth, not paper**: a little more body.
- **Rinse the bag without soap**, and let it dry.



## How does a chorreador work?

The **bolsita** is an elongated cotton bag, shaped a little like a pocket, with its mouth held open by a **wire or wooden ring**. The **stand** holds it over a cup, mug or small pot. You put the coffee in the bag and pour hot water through it. The water seeps through the coffee and the cloth, and drips out of the bottom of the bag into the cup. It's **percolation**, like any pour-over; the cloth simply replaces the paper filter.

## How much coffee and water should I use?

| | Amount |
| --- | --- |
| Coffee | About 20 g (Cafetico) |
| Water | About 240 g, just off the boil, or up to 300 g for a lighter cup |
| Ratio | 1:12 to 1:15 |
| Bloom | 50 g |
| Time | About 3 to 4 minutes |
| Simple home guide | 1 to 2 tablespoons per cup |

## What grind size should I use?

**Sources differ.** Cafetico suggests **medium-coarse**, a step coarser than for a V60; Wikipedia and Tico Travel describe **fine to medium-fine**. Start around **medium**: if the water runs straight through and it tastes thin, grind finer; if it drips very slowly and tastes bitter, go coarser.

![Chart of coffee grind sizes from extra fine to extra coarse, with medium highlighted for the chorreador](https://dailyextraction.com/diagrams/grind-size.svg#medium "Start around medium for the chorreador; sources range from medium-fine to medium-coarse.")

## How do you use a chorreador, step by step?

1. **Rinse the bolsita** with hot water in the stand, and pour that water away.
2. **Add about 20 g of coffee** for each 240 g of water.
3. **Bloom:** pour 50 g of water, just off the boil, to wet all the coffee.
4. **Pour the rest slowly**, in stages, to 100, 150, 200 and 240 g, letting it drip between pours. Start to finish takes about **3 to 4 minutes**.
5. **Lift the bag off** when it's drained, and serve.
6. **Rinse the bag** without soap and let it dry.

Brew mode on this page times the bloom and the pour for you.

## How do you look after the cloth bag?

- **Rinse it well in hot water** after every brew.
- **Never use soap**: the cloth holds onto the taste.
- **Scrub it with salt** to lift the oils: Café Britt suggests once a week, Wikipedia about once a month.
- **Dry it, or keep it wet**: if you brew every day, Cafetico suggests storing the damp bag in a glass of clean water in the fridge.
- **Replace it** when it stays stained, smells stale or drips very slowly. Café Britt says a bolsita can last anywhere from three months to three years.

## Where does the chorreador come from?

**No one really knows.** Cafetico notes that there's **no reliable record** of who built the first chorreador or when, and points out that straining coffee through cloth is much older, and found in many coffee cultures. Some accounts place its start as early as the **1820s**, others point to **1848**, but neither is well documented, so I'd treat both as tradition. The name comes from the Spanish verb ***chorrear***, to pour or drip in a stream.

## Chorreador vs other cloth filters

| | Chorreador | [Coador de pano](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/coador-de-pano/) | [Kopi sock](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/kopi-sock/) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Country | Costa Rica | Brazil | Malaysia and Singapore |
| Holder | Wooden stand | Handle and ring, or a stand | Handle and ring |
| Method | Pour through | Stirred into hot water, then strained | Steep, then strain |
| Coffee | Usually black or with milk | Strong and sweet | With condensed milk |

*General guidance only. Take care with hot water, keep the stand on a stable surface, and let a cloth filter dry fully between uses.*

## Chorreador vs other methods

- **[Coador de pano](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/coador-de-pano/):** Brazil's cloth filter, for cafezinho.
- **[Colador](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/colador/):** the Caribbean coffee sock.
- **[V60](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/v60/):** a pour-over with paper instead of cloth.
- **[Chemex](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/chemex/):** a pour-over with thick paper.

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

## Words used in this guide

- [Body](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/body/): Body is how heavy and textured coffee feels in your mouth, from light and tea-like to thick and syrupy.
- [Immersion vs percolation](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/immersion-vs-percolation/): Immersion brewing steeps all the coffee in all the water at once, as a French press does.
- [Pour-over](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/pour-over/): Pour-over is a way of making filter coffee by hand: you pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter cone and let it drip through into a cup or jug.
- [Bloom](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/bloom/): The bloom is the first small pour of water in a brew, usually 2–3 times the weight of the coffee, followed by a 30–45 second pause.

## FAQs

### What is a chorreador?

A Costa Rican coffee maker: a wooden stand that holds a cloth filter bag, called a bolsita, over a cup or pot. You pour hot water through coffee in the bag, and it drips into the cup below. The coffee is called café chorreado.

### How much coffee do you use in a chorreador?

Cafetico suggests 20 g of coffee to 240 g of water (1:12), or up to 300 g of water for a lighter cup. A simple home guide uses 1 to 2 tablespoons per cup.

### How do you clean a chorreador bag?

Empty the grounds and rinse the cloth in hot water. Don't use soap, which affects the taste. Café Britt suggests scrubbing it with salt once a week to lift the oils.

### Who invented the chorreador?

No one knows. Cafetico notes there's no reliable record of who built the first one or when, and straining coffee through cloth is much older and widespread. Some accounts date it to the 1820s, others to 1848, but neither is well documented.

### Chorreador vs pour-over?

A chorreador is a pour-over, but with a cloth filter instead of paper. Cloth lets more of the coffee's oils through, so the cup has a little more body than a paper pour-over.

## Sources

- [How to brew coffee with a chorreador](https://www.cafetico.io/blogs/news/the-art-of-manual-brewing-mastering-the-cloth-filter)
- [History of the chorreador pour-over coffee brewer of Costa Rica](https://www.cafetico.io/blogs/news/the-origin-of-the-chorreador-coffee-brewer)
- [Chorreador](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorreador)
- [Brew coffee the Costa Rican way](https://www.cafebritt.com/blogs/coffee-101/brew-coffee-the-costa-rican-way)
- [Costa Rica chorreador: origins and brewing tips](https://ticotravel.com/costa-rica-chorreador-from-1800s-origins-to-modern-brewing-tips/)