Cafe de puchero: the Andalusian coffee most visitors have never tried

Cafe de puchero is a traditional Andalusian coffee made by brewing ground coffee in a clay pot with a cinnamon stick and a strip of lemon peel. It is not espresso. It is not filter coffee. It is something older and slower, and it is the last thing served at Fervores most evenings.

The method and the clay pot ¶

The puchero is a clay cooking vessel that has been used in Andalusian kitchens for centuries. For coffee, a small version is used: ground coffee, water, a cinnamon stick, and a strip of lemon peel are brought slowly to a near-boil, then left to settle for several minutes before straining. The result is a coffee that is less bitter than espresso and has a faint warmth from the cinnamon that lingers after the cup is finished.

The clay pot is important. It retains heat differently from metal and gives the coffee a very slight mineral quality that is part of the character of the drink. Gonzalo uses the same style of pot his grandmother used, bought from a ceramics market in Guadix.

Why it is on the menu at Fervores ¶

Most restaurants in Granada serve espresso after dinner because espresso is what people expect and what the machine produces quickly. Cafe de puchero takes longer and requires someone to watch it. It is not the efficient choice.

Gonzalo put it on the menu in 2017 because it was what his grandmother served after Sunday lunch and because it seemed like the right way to end a meal that had been cooked over fire. It has been on the menu since the first week and has never been removed, even during the periods when the kitchen was short-staffed and every slow process was under pressure.

How to drink it ¶

Cafe de puchero is served black or with a little warm milk. It is not served with sugar, though sugar can be requested. The cinnamon and lemon peel provide enough sweetness and fragrance that most people find they do not need it.

It is 3 EUR. It takes about eight minutes from order to cup. If you are in a hurry, it is probably not the right choice. If you are not, it is a good way to stay at the table a little longer.

The recipe comes from Gonzalo's grandmother and has not been written down in any formal way. It is made by feel, which is probably how it should be.