Do you know what a chorreador is? It’s a Costa Rican coffee maker. We saw one in action as part of a tour about traditional Costa Rican foods.
The chorreador is a wooden stand with a little cotton bag called a bolsita tucked into a hole in the top. You put coffee grounds into the bolsita and pour boiling water into it which soaks through the grounds and drips into your coffee cup or pot sitting on the stand beneath it.
My brother in law Paul and sister in law Shirley enjoy coffee made in a chorreador
The name chorreador comes from the Spanish word chorrear which means to drip or trickle or run. Chorreadors can be very basic and simple but they can also be beautifully carved and decorated from fine wood.
The coffee was ground with these wooden mortar and pestles as was rice and corn.
We got to sample a corn biscuit and a coconut rice sweet bun
which had been baked in a traditional adobe clay oven.
We also watched a sugar cane grinder at work
The walking ox turned the grinder round and round to make sugar cane juice
Which was sweet and delicious
This device was used to make sugar cane candy. Nuts were picked and one nut put in each hole and then sugar cane juice poured in. When it hardened around the nut it made a sweet candy.
But the piesta resistance of the tour was this hot smoked cheese wrapped in warm tortillas
The cheese was put in a wooden cage about a wood stove and as it was heated it developed this delicious smoky crust. It was sooooo good!
Other posts…….
What Next? 