Cafe de Olla Cocktail

Cafe de olla is coffee brewed with cinnamon and piloncillo in a clay pot. This is that, cold, with tequila.

The build

  • 45 ml reposado tequila
  • 45 ml strong cold coffee, single origin
  • 15 ml honey syrup, 3:1
  • One strip orange peel
  • A short piece of cinnamon

Stir with ice until cold. Strain into a chilled coupe. Express the orange peel over the surface and drop it in.

Notes

Reposado here, not blanco — the barrel time meets the coffee instead of fighting it. Licor 43 in place of 15 ml of the tequila makes it sweeter and more obviously a dessert drink.

Brew the coffee strong and cool it fully. Hot coffee poured over ice tastes thin and flat.

Hot

Brew the coffee with cinnamon in a clay pot as usual, sweeten with honey instead of piloncillo, add the tequila off the heat. Honey added to boiling coffee loses its aromatics — wait until the pot stops steaming.

The coffee and the honey

Fantina's coffee is single origin from Oaxaca, shade grown. The honey is mesquite — dry and caramelised rather than floral, which is what keeps this from tasting like a sweetened latte.

The syrup · Claim your number