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Café guayoyo
Café guayoyo: a long, light black coffee strained through a cloth filter and sipped from dawn to dusk
In the coffee villages of the Venezuelan Andes, in Trujillo, Mérida and Táchira, the day starts in the dark with a pot of guayoyo, and it never really stops: a cup at breakfast with arepas, one mid-morning, one after lunch, one at the bodega counter in the afternoon. Guayoyo is the opposite of a short, dark negrito: plenty of water through a modest amount of coffee, poured through a colador de tela, a cotton cloth sock on a wire ring. It is light-bodied, mild and clean, closer to tea in strength, with gentle chocolate notes and almost no bitterness, so it is easy to drink cup after cup. It still has caffeine, so count the cups. The common mistake is pouring boiling water onto the grounds, which pulls out bitter flavours; let the kettle rest off the boil for a minute first. Never wash the cloth with soap either, or every cup tastes soapy. The coffee is ready when it runs through amber-brown, clear enough to see the bottom of a white cup. Sweeten with papelón (raw cane sugar) if you like. Chef's tip: keep the rinsed cloth in a jar of water in the fridge between uses so it never smells stale.
- Total time
- 10 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the coffee
- 3 ¾ cups water
- 1 oz medium-roast ground coffeemedium grind
- 4 tsp papelón or brown sugar (optional)to taste
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Bring 3 ¾ cups water to the boil, then take it off the heat and let it rest for 1 minute so it is just below boiling.
5 minStep 2: Rinse a cloth coffee filter with hot water, hang it over a jug and put 1 oz medium-roast ground coffee into it.
1 minStep 3: Pour a little water over the grounds to wet them and wait 30 seconds while they swell and release their aroma.
1 minStep 4: Pour the rest of the water slowly through the filter in a circle, letting it drain each time, until all of it has passed through and the coffee is clear amber-brown.
3 minStep 5: Sweeten with 4 tsp papelón or brown sugar if you like and serve hot in small mugs. Rinse the cloth well under hot water, without soap.
1 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 15 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 4 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does café guayoyo take?
- About 10 minutes in total: 2 minutes to prepare and 8 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
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Spanish