Café de Olla (pot coffee)

End your next at-home Mexican meal with a surprise twist, a real (non alcoholic) Mexican Coffee.

A touch removed from your neighborhood barista's finicky brew, Mexican coffee is excellent with plain old drip coffee (it can even be made in advance) and arrives at the table pre sweetened and fragrant with cinnamon. It's different, it's easy, and it's good!

Mexican Coffee

• 2 cups of water
• The zest of 1 orange
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 1 cup pilloncillo* (or substitute 1 cup of dark brown sugar)
• 1 big pot of strong coffee

*Pilloncillo is a minimally processed Mexican raw sugar, sold dark brown in cones. It has a unique and very sweet taste, and is worth searching out. It can be easily found in most any Mexican grocery. Dark brown sugar is a reasonable substitute.

To prepare cafe de olla...

1. Before dinner, add the water, pilloncillo, orange zest and cinnamon to a saucepan and simmer until combined and reduced to about 1 third of its original volume. It's best to simmer slowly, as the syrupy liquid can easily boil over if left unattended even for a minute over higher heat (the aroma that will percolate through the kitchen is pleasant for a leisurely simmer down in any case). Reserve the syrup for later mixing.
2. After dinner, prepare a pot of coffee as normal. Pour the coffee into mugs and sweeten with the spiced syrup to taste. Serve hot, without cream or sugar.

That's it. Easy-peasy, and very tasty – and a nice change of pace from the everyday cup a Joe.

Any extra syrup can be stored for ages in the fridge. Remove the cinnamon stick (or the eventual taste of cinnamon can get very strong).

This can also be made well in advance, pre mixed with coffee and left to chill in the fridge for a Mexican iced coffee. Serve in tall glass well filled with ice.