# Colador Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/colador/ Last updated: 2026-10-19 > A colador is a cotton or flannel coffee sock on a wire ring with a handle. Put finely ground dark-roast coffee in the sock, about 4 tablespoons for 2 cups (480 ml) of water. Heat the water until it steams but doesn't boil, then pour it slowly through the coffee in a thin stream; it takes a minute or two to filter through. For café con leche, add hot milk and sugar to taste. ## At a glance - Ratio: 4 tbsp per 480 ml - Grind: Fine - Water temperature: Steaming, not boiling - Brew time: about 1:30 - Category: Cloth, Sock & Cultural Filter (Percolation) - Difficulty: Beginner - Origin: Puerto Rico - Also known as: Puerto Rican colador, Cuban colador, media, coffee sock, café colao ## Steps 1. **Heat the water**: Heat the water in a pan until it steams, but don't let it reach a rolling boil. 2. **Coffee in the sock**: Put finely ground dark-roast coffee in the colador, about 4 tablespoons for 2 cups (480 ml) of water, and hold it over a jug or cups. 3. **Pour through slowly**: Pour the hot water slowly through the coffee in a thin stream, letting it filter all the way through. This takes one or two minutes. 4. **Serve**: Drink it black, or with hot milk and sugar for café con leche. Many Puerto Rican households use one to two teaspoons of sugar per small cup. 5. **Rinse and dry**: Rinse the sock in plain water, without soap, and hang it to air dry. The **colador** is the Caribbean **coffee sock**: a small **cotton or flannel bag** on a wire ring with a handle. In **Puerto Rico**, it's the traditional way to make **café colao**, "strained coffee": fine, dark coffee in the sock, with hot water poured **slowly through it** into the cup below. It's also called a **media**, a sock. It works like the Costa Rican [chorreador](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/chorreador/), but the sock is held by its handle rather than hung in a wooden stand. Here's how to use one. ## The short version - **A cloth sock on a ring with a handle.** - **Fine, dark-roast coffee**, about 4 tablespoons for 2 cups of water. - **Water steaming, not boiling.** - **Poured slowly through the sock**, over a minute or two. - **Black, or café con leche** with hot milk and sugar. ## How does a colador work? The coffee goes into the cloth sock, and hot water is poured slowly through it, in a thin stream, so it filters through the coffee and the cloth into the cup or jug below. Like any cloth filter, it lets more of the coffee's **oils** through than paper, giving a **fuller body**. Without a colador, Talk About Coffee suggests a moka pot, French press, AeroPress or drip machine instead. ## How much coffee should I use? Talk About Coffee's recipe uses **4 tablespoons of finely ground dark-roast coffee** for **2 cups (480 ml)** of water. Use **finely ground, dark-roast** coffee, the style usually used in Puerto Rico. For café con leche, many households add **one to two teaspoons of sugar** per small cup. ![Chart of coffee grind sizes from extra fine to extra coarse, with fine highlighted for the colador](https://dailyextraction.com/diagrams/grind-size.svg#fine "Colador coffee uses a fine grind.") ## How do you make café colao, step by step? 1. **Heat the water** until it steams, without letting it reach a rolling boil. Water that's too hot makes the coffee bitter. 2. **Put the coffee in the sock**, about 4 tablespoons for 2 cups, and hold it over a jug or cups. 3. **Pour the water slowly through it**, in a thin stream, letting it filter all the way through: one or two minutes. 4. **Serve** black, or with hot milk and sugar for **café con leche**. 5. **Rinse the sock** in plain water and hang it to dry. Brew mode on this page times the pour for you. ## How do you look after a colador? - **Rinse it in plain water** after each use, **without soap**. - **Air dry** it fully. - **Deep clean it weekly**: Talk About Coffee suggests boiling the sock in water for a few minutes once a week. - **Replace it** when it smells stale or stays clogged: the same guide suggests every six months to a year. ## Is the colador still used? Yes, though less than it was. Café Britt, a Costa Rican roaster, notes that in **Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico**, the colador is now less common and considered **traditional or old-fashioned**, while in **Venezuela and Colombia** it's still used regularly. In Cuba, it says, coffee made this way is called **café carretero**. ## Colador vs other cloth filters | | Colador | [Chorreador](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/chorreador/) | [Coador de pano](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/coador-de-pano/) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Country | Puerto Rico and the Caribbean | Costa Rica | Brazil | | Holder | Ring and handle | Wooden stand | Ring and handle | | Method | Water poured through | Water poured through | Stirred in, then strained | | Coffee | Fine, dark roast | Medium | Fine, often sweetened | *General guidance only. Take care with hot water and pans, and dry the cloth fully between uses.* ## Colador vs other methods - **[Chorreador](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/chorreador/):** Costa Rica's cloth filter on a wooden stand. - **[Coador de pano](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/coador-de-pano/):** Brazil's cloth filter for cafezinho. - **[Kopi sock](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/kopi-sock/):** the cloth sock of Malaysian and Singaporean kopitiams. - **[Moka pot](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/moka-pot/):** the stovetop pot that has largely replaced it. 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. - [Roast level](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/roast-level/): Roast level describes how long and how hot coffee beans were roasted, usually labelled light, medium or dark. ## FAQs ### What is a colador? A cloth coffee filter: a small cotton or flannel sock on a wire ring with a wooden or metal handle. It's used in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean and Latin America, where it's also called a media, or sock. ### How do you make Puerto Rican coffee with a colador? Put finely ground dark-roast coffee in the sock, about 4 tablespoons for 2 cups of water. Heat the water until it steams but doesn't boil and pour it slowly through the coffee. Add hot milk and sugar for café con leche. ### What coffee should I use? Guides suggest finely ground, dark-roast coffee, such as Puerto Rican brands sold for this style, or espresso-grind coffee. ### Is the colador still used? Yes, though Café Britt notes that in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico it's now less common and seen as traditional or old-fashioned. In Venezuela and Colombia, it says, the method is still used regularly. ### How do you look after a colador? Rinse it in plain water, without soap, and let it air dry. Looked after this way, one source says, a colador can last for years. ## Sources - [How to make authentic Puerto Rican coffee](https://www.talkaboutcoffee.com/how-to-make-puerto-rican-coffee.html) - [The traditional sock brewing method](https://www.787coffee.com/blog/traditional-sock-brewing-method-eco-friendly-coffee) - [Chorreador: Café Britt’s brewing series](https://cafebritt.com/blogs/coffee-101/chorreador-cafe-britts-brewing-series)