Coffee as They Drink It in Latin America

In Colombia, coffee is made with agua de panela.

From Mexico to Argentina, Latin America is a region full of great coffee and creative people. No matter where we are, we have our unique way to do even the most common activities. Our coffee is famous, so we take it seriously. Very seriously. And by ‘seriously,’ we mean that coffee is the perfect excuse to have fun and share the best moments with the people we love the most.

There is no “Latin American” method to brew coffee. Our cultural diversity makes it impossible to pick simply one. That’s the reason why, today, we’re going to explore some of the most popular ways of enjoying our favorite drink all across the continent. If you’re a fan of the flavors of Latin American coffee, live the whole experience by trying these recipes!

Costa Rica: Café chorreado

Careful planting, harvesting, and processing characterize Costa Rica’s coffee culture. In the final part of the process, Ticos brew coffee with a chorreador, a wooden tool that holds a filter made of cotton. Café chorreado is part of a tradition that goes back to many generations. Everyone learned it from their grandparents and continued brewing coffee like this today.

According to Costa Ricans, café chorreado has deep flavors and aromas.  To brew a chorreado, we need to preheat the chorreador and measure how much coffee and water we’re going to use. We then put the coffee in the cotton filter and start dampening it with hot water. We continue to pour the water slowly, with patience, and we never let it fill the filter all the way to the top. When it’s done, we don’t let the filter dripping, but put it away and clean it thoroughly. And there we have it! Our very own café chorreado.

Argentina: café cortado and lágrima

In the city of Buenos Aires, you’ll never walk for three blocks without finding a new café. For Argentinians, stopping to drink a cup of coffee in the middle of the day, whether it’s to enjoy it alone or with friends, is part of their coffee culture and traditions.

The most famous ways to brew coffee are café cortado and lágrima. To prepare a cortado, you need to use a proportion of ¾ of coffee for ¼ of milk, and add a fine layer of foam on the surface. It’s the most popular way to have coffee in Buenos Aires.

When it comes to the lágrima, we talk about a black coffee to which you only add a “tear” or a drop of milk. Just enough to change the color of the drink.

Cuba: sweet and strong

Cuban coffee is famous for its strong flavor and full body. To brew it, you’ll need to pour cold and clear water into the coffee maker. It’s important that the coffee is prepared with extremely clean water. Afterwards, introduce the coffee inside the filter and start heating it up.

Cuban coffee is very sweet. Sugar is one of the most important ingredients in the mix. As coffee starts to boil, add a small dose of sugar to the pot and start stirring. Once it has boiled, pour more sugar inside and stir until you get the thick and dense consistency that’s so traditional of Cuban coffee! An extra layer of foam on the surface of your drink at the end will do the final trick.

Colombia: Tinto

In Colombia, coffee means family. Their traditional ways of brewing coffee pass down from generation to generation and have stayed in the hearts of Colombian people for many years. Not everyone like Colombian tintos, though. Many coffee experts believe this brewing method is wrong and doesn’t bring the best out of the famously excellent Colombian coffee beans. We still encourage you to try it and decide on your own!

In order to brew a tinto, follow these instructions: Lit the fire and start boiling the water. Right before it’s boiled, add four tablespoons of ground coffee. In a separate pot, make agua de panela by adding unrefined sugarcane to boiling water. After three or four minutes, remove the coffee from the boil and add the sweet agua de panela. Focus on the flavors of the panela mixed with coffee and tell us how you like it! At That Coffee Roasters, we love to explore the different coffee nuances of every region. We know we’re not simply talking about a drink, but about a cultural experience that has been engraved in our traditions and families for centuries.

Cuban coffee is known for its sweet and strong flavors.

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That Coffee Roasters

Phone Number: (305) 821-8811

2697 W. 76 Street, Hialeah, Florida 33016

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