Café de la Olla is a Mexican spiced coffee made with cinnamon, clove, anise seeds and orange. Prepared like a cold brew in a big batch and presweetened, this rich concoction is what your sequestered mornings were dreaming of and will feel like a well-deserved decadence between endless Zoom meetings.
I found this recipe in my trusted Mexican cookbook Nopalito and have put it on heavy rotation in my morning routine ever since. Prepare everything the night before, meaning wrap the ground coffee, spices and piece of orange in a coffee filter or double-layered cheesecloth and submerge the bundle in water overnight.
A simple sweet syrup is made from boiling a cone of piloncillo (unrefined whole cane sugar typical of Latin America) or brown sugar with water and letting it cool before adding it to your cold brewed coffee.
And that’s it! Pour the coffee over ice and about 2 oz of your favorite milk or non-dairy alternative which helps take a little bit of the edge off this dark and slightly spicy brew.
This Mexican iced coffee is the perfect mid-morning or afternoon pick-me-up with some crunchy cookies (like these Salt ‘n Pepper chocolate chip cookies) or a pastry. Rich, yet refreshing, it’s a dessert drink that will keep your spirits high through this strange summer and beyond…
| Total Time: | 510 min |
| Category: | Beverage |
| Cuisine: | Mexican |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
2. To a large coffee filter or double layer of cheesecloth, add the coffee, anise, cloves, cinnamon, and orange; wrap the ingredients fully with the filter or cheesecloth and secure to form a sealed bundle. Submerge in 7 cups water and let steep 8 hours. Remove the bundle and squeeze it out into the water to extract all the flavor. Whisk in 3/4 cup of the piloncillo syrup.
3. For each serving, pour 8 ounces of the coffee over ice and add 2 ounces milk.
1 medium (8-ounce) cone piloncillo or 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup water
Coffee:
1/2 pound coffee, ground
1/2 teaspoon anise seeds
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 orange, peeled
1 1/2 cups whole milk, for serving
