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Café de Olla is a traditional Mexican coffee spiced with cinnamon, cloves, star anise and sweetened with piloncillo. Made in a Mexican olla de barro, or clay pot, this drink is delicious served as is or with a splash of milk in the morning!
A Note from Isabel
There’s nothing more relaxing than having a cup of café de olla and a concha in the morning! It warms me up from the inside out and feels like a big hug from my family.
I especially love drinking the coffee in these cute little tazas de barro, or Mexican clay mugs. The ones you see in the photos are actually my sister’s! She’s had them for as long as I can remember, and they’re still in the family.
What Is Café de Olla?
Café de olla is a traditional Mexican coffee sweetened with piloncillo and spiced with cinnamon, cloves and star anise. It’s brewed in an olla de barro, or Mexican clay pot, that gives the coffee a unique earthy flavor. It’s traditionally used for cooking beans, soups and stews, and drinks like this coffee!
Café de olla literally translates to ‘coffee from a pot‘ in English.
You can find an olla de barro at most Mexican grocery stores and specialty shops in the U.S. nowadays along with other traditional Mexican housewares. If you can’t find any locally, you can also get them online here.
If you don’t have an olla de barro and would still love to make this recipe, you can! Instead of an olla, you can use any medium pot or saucepan instead.
Cafe de Olla Ingredients
- Water – A crucial ingredient in making coffee! You’ll need 6 cups.
- Ground Coffee – A freshly ground dark roast coffee works best in this recipe, but you can use any ground coffee that you have on hand.
- Piloncillo – This dark Mexican cane sugar is used to sweeten the coffee and gives it a unique, almost molasses-like flavor.
- Cinnamon Sticks – I highly recommend using Mexican cinnamon sticks (or canela) in this recipe as it gives it a delicious soft and smooth cinnamon flavor. Mexican cinnamon sticks are often larger and flakier than the typical cinnamon sticks you find in many stores. You can get them at most Mexican grocery stores, but if you can’t find them locally, you can get them online here.
- Whole Cloves – Just two little cloves is all you need to give the café a touch of warming spice that leaves you feeling all cozy inside.
- Star Anise – Just add one little star anise pod to give the coffee a small hint of sweetness that compliments the cinnamon and cloves so well. You can get star anise at most Mexican grocery stores, but if you can’t find them locally, you can get them online here.
How to Make Café de Olla
- Heat: Add water, piloncillo, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and star anise to an olla de barro or medium pot. Place over med-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally so that the piloncillo fully dissolves.
- Steep: Remove the olla or pot from the heat and add the coffee. Give it a stir, cover, and let it steep for 6-8 minutes.
- Strain: Pour the coffee through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and serve!
Mexican Coffee Substitutions
Can’t find all the ingredients in this recipe? Here are some substitutions that may be helpful:
- Instead of piloncillo, you can use 1/2 cup dark brown sugar.
- Don’t have Mexican cinnamon sticks? You can use regular cinnamon sticks instead.
- Don’t have star anise? You can leave it out completely. It adds an amazing flavor to the coffee, but it’s okay if you don’t use it.
Cafe de Olla Recipe Tips and Tricks
- For regular-strength café de olla, let the coffee steep for 6 minutes.
- For extra-strength café de olla, let the coffee steep for 8 minutes.
- Turn leftovers into iced Mexican coffee. Simply transfer the strained coffee to an airtight jar and let it chill in the fridge. When you’re ready for a drink, serve the coffee over ice!
Mexican Coffee Recipe Variations
Here are a few ways to change this up once you’ve made it the regular way.
- Stir in some cocoa powder. A few spoonfuls of 100% unsweetened cocoa powder turns it into a mocha version. Whisk it in while the water and piloncillo are heating so it dissolves all the way.
- Add a strip of orange peel. Drop it in with the cinnamon and spices and let it simmer. It brightens everything up and goes really well with the piloncillo.
- Make it iced. Leftover café de olla is really good over ice. Let it cool completely, pour it over a full glass of ice, and add a splash of milk if you want.
What to Serve With Café de Olla
This one goes with just about anything you’d eat in the morning. Here’s what I reach for.
- Pan dulce, always. A concha, a marranito, mantecadas, Mexican donuts, or a slice of cortadillo. Any of them are good for dunking, and that’s usually how I drink it.
- Reheated tamales in the morning. A hot cup of café de olla with tamales left over from the night before is one of the best breakfasts there is. Red pork tamales, tamales de rajas, even sweet tamales. All of them.
- Churros. Fresh out of the oil and rolled in cinnamon sugar, with a mug of this next to them. Here’s my churro recipe and my baked pumpkin churros.
Café de Olla FAQs
It means “coffee from the pot.” An olla is the clay pot it’s traditionally brewed in, and the name comes straight from that. Clay holds heat well and is porous, which is where people say the earthy flavor comes from.
Mostly in homes rather than coffee shops. It’s a family kitchen drink, and it’s especially tied to the rural coffee-growing parts of Mexico like Veracruz. In my family, we make it often around the holidays in the mornings alongside some reheated tamales.
It’s sweet, warm, and a little earthy. The piloncillo gives it a molasses flavor that regular sugar doesn’t have, and the cinnamon, clove, and star anise come through without overpowering the coffee. It comes to you already sweetened, so you don’t add sugar at the end.
It’s as strong as you make it. This recipe uses a dark roast, and the steep time controls the strength. Six minutes gives you a regular-strength cup, and eight minutes gives you something noticeably stronger. It’s not higher in caffeine than any other coffee; it just tastes bolder because of the dark roast and the spices.
Yes, and I usually do. Traditionally, café de olla is served black since it’s already sweetened, but adding milk or cream turns it into more of a café con leche, and it’s really good that way.
Cafe de Olla
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- 4 ounces piloncillo (or 1/2 cup dark brown sugar), plus more to taste*
- 2 cinnamon sticks (Mexican cinnamon sticks preferred)
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 star anise pod
- 9 tablespoons dark roast ground coffee
Instructions
- In a medium olla or pot, add water, piloncillo, cinnamon sticks, cloves and star anise pod.
- Place over medium-high heat and stir often until the piloncillo completely dissolves and the water comes to a boil.
- Remove the pot from the heat. Add the ground coffee, stir to combine, and cover. Let the coffee steep for 6 minutes for regular strength coffee or 8 minutes for extra-strength strength coffee.
- Pour the coffee through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a coffee mug and serve.
- Enjoy as is or add some milk for a cafe con leche.
Video
Notes
- Instead of piloncillo, you can use 1/2 cup dark brown sugar. This amount offers a medium sweetness. If you prefer your coffee a little sweeter, add in 1-2 more tablespoons of piloncillo.
- Don’t have Mexican cinnamon sticks? You can use regular cinnamon sticks instead.
- Don’t have star anise? You can leave it out completely. It adds an amazing flavor to the coffee, but it’s okay if you don’t use it.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious! The star anise is a must. It adds the perfect spice to the coffee.
I absolutely loved this recipe. I didn’t grow up drinking this coffee, but I remember many years ago, we were in the process of moving, so my husband stopped at a Mexican restaurant, and this was the coffee they served. I was so excited to try your recipe, and girl, did it deliver. Thank you!