Café de Olla

Ingredients

• 4 cups (950 ml) water
• 3 oz (85 g) piloncillo, or 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 sticks Mexican canela
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 star anise
• 1 strip orange peel, 2 in (5 cm) long
• 1/2 cup (45 g) coarsely ground dark-roast coffee

Before you cook

• Chop the piloncillo cone into rough chunks so it dissolves evenly.
• Pare a wide strip of orange peel, leaving the bitter white pith on the fruit.
• Snap the canela sticks in half to open up their layers.
• Grind the coffee coarse, roughly the texture of raw sugar.

Steps

1. Pour the water into a clay olla or a heavy saucepan.
2. Add the piloncillo, canela, cloves, star anise and orange peel.
3. Set the pot over medium heat and bring it to a gentle boil.
4. Stir until every piece of piloncillo has melted into the water, about 5 minutes.
5. Lower the heat and hold the spices at a bare simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Take the pot off the heat and stir the ground coffee straight into the hot syrup.
7. Cover the pot and steep the coffee for 5 minutes without stirring again.
8. Strain the coffee through a fine sieve into small clay jarritos or mugs.
9. Serve black and very hot, with no milk.