Tinto de olla

The way most Colombian kitchens have always made coffee: a pot, water and ground coffee. Done right, it is clean and sweet, not the bitter tinto many of us grew up with.

You need

• A pot with a lid
• 30 g of coffee for 480 ml of water (3 cups)
• A cloth filter or fine strainer

Steps

1. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Take the pot off the heat. Add the coffee and stir once so all of it gets wet.
3. Cover and wait 4 minutes.
4. Pour through the cloth or strainer. No strainer? Let the grounds settle for a minute and pour slowly, leaving the last bit in the pot.

Common mistakes

• Boiling the coffee in the water. It pulls out bitterness and drives off the aroma. Boil the water, not the coffee.
• Leaving it on the stove to keep warm. It keeps cooking. Move it to a thermos.
• Too little coffee, then boiling longer to make it “stronger”. Use more coffee instead.