Brazilian Coador de Pano

The coador de pano is Brazil’s traditional coffee filter: a cloth bag on a wire ring with a handle, hung over a pot or jug. It’s how generations of Brazilians have made cafezinho, the small, strong, sweet coffee offered to guests and after meals. Hot water and fine coffee go through the cloth, which holds back the grounds but lets more of the oils through than paper, for a full-bodied cup. Here’s how it’s done.

The short version

• A cloth filter on a ring, hung over a pot.
• Fine coffee, about a heaped tablespoon per cup.
• Water just off the boil, about 93–95°C: don’t boil the coffee itself.
• Sugar is traditional: dissolved in the water, or added to the grounds.
• Served small, strong and sweet.

How does a coador de pano work?

The coador is a simple cotton or flannel bag on a wire ring with a handle. It’s hung over a pot, or set in a stand, and the coffee is poured through it. The cloth catches the grounds and lets the coffee through. Because cloth is more open than paper, more of the coffee’s oils pass through, giving a heavier body.

How do you make cafezinho, step by step?

There are two common ways, and families differ. This is the most common:

1. Rinse the cloth with hot water and hang it over a pot.
2. Heat the water to just off the boil, about 93–95°C, often with sugar dissolved in it, to taste.
3. Take it off the heat, add finely ground coffee, about 8–10 g per 100 ml, and stir well.
4. Pour it through the coador into the pot.
5. Serve straight away in small cups.

The other way, described by Caffe Atlas, puts sugar on the dry grounds in the cloth, about 1 to 2 teaspoons per cup, then pours the hot water through, so the sugar dissolves as it brews.

How much coffee should I use?

Recipes vary. Caffe Atlas gives 8–10 g of coffee per 100 ml of water, served in cups of 50–80 ml. Brasa Brazil uses about 4 tablespoons for 2 cups (480 ml), and notes that the 3 Corações brand prints 4 to 5 tablespoons per litre on its bags. Homegrounds’ recipe uses 43 g of coffee for 4 cups of water with a tablespoon of brown sugar or rapadura, unrefined cane sugar. Cafezinho is meant to be strong.

Should the water boil?

Not the coffee. Brasa Brazil pours water at about 93°C over the grounds and warns that boiled coffee tastes scorched, and that’s “not cafezinho”. Other recipes boil the water and sugar first, then add the coffee off the heat; Caffe Atlas lets boiled water stand for 30 seconds, to about 95°C. Traditions differ, but the coffee itself shouldn’t boil.

How do you look after the cloth?

• Rinse it in plenty of water after every brew, without soap.
• Dry it fully, so it doesn’t go mouldy or taste stale.
• Replace it when it stays stained or smells off.

Coador de pano vs other cloth filters

	Coador de pano	Chorreador	Colador
Country	Brazil	Costa Rica	Puerto Rico and the Caribbean
Holder	Ring and handle	Wooden stand	Ring and handle
Method	Coffee stirred into water, then strained	Water poured through	Water poured through
Sugar	Traditional	Optional	Optional

General guidance only. Take care with hot water and sugar syrup, which holds its heat, and dry the cloth fully between uses.

Coador de pano vs other methods

• Chorreador: Costa Rica’s cloth filter on a wooden stand.
• Colador: the Caribbean coffee sock.
• Kopi sock: Malaysia and Singapore’s cloth-filtered coffee.
• Turkish coffee: another small, strong, often sweet coffee.

Explore every cloth-filter method in the cloth chapter.