Speaking of coffee and its extraction methods, I can not miss the opportunity to talk about the famous Venezuelan Guayoyo coffee.

What is the Guayoyo?

The guayoyo or coffee "Colao", as the grandmothers call it, is a way of preparing coffee very typical of Venezuela, we can say that it is the method of extraction par excellence of the Venezuelan, for its low cost and its practicality. This is what coffee lovers did before the machines existed and is less complicated than you think. 

Something very important is that the Guayoyo is not prepared with espresso machines.

This is prepared by filtering the coffee in a cone of cloth, usually made of cotton cloth sewn to a metal frame and in which the ground coffee is previously placed and the hot water is allowed to pass to extract all the solutes from the coffee.

A ratio between coffee and water of less than 80 grams of coffee per liter of water is used, but everything depends on the taste of the consumer, there are those who prefer it well diluted "soft" and others who like very concentrated which they call "cerrero" or "negrito".

Many use sugar to taste, although it is said that a good coffee does not need sugar.

Do you know how to correctly make a guayoyo and thus extract the best aromas and flavors of your coffee?

Many people ignore pour some water and coffee in a container, put it to boil and then empty it in the cloth sleeve, apply sugar and ready to drink coffee !. But did you know that this way of preparing is the least favorable to get the best aroma and flavor of coffee ?. It is said that applying water to coffee powder above 100 ° C brings out bad tastes of your coffee, such as bitter, which are considered flaws at the time of tasting. Then I give you my recipe so you do not keep burning your guayoyo and you can prepare an exquisite drink:

1. First of all, we must wash the filter very well, so that there are no residues or flavors of coffee, water, or allow it to acquire odors from the place where we have stored it.
2. Then we put the coffee in the amount that is needed (a good dose is a tablespoon or eight grams) with a grind that should not be so fine, rather a coarse grind, because if a grind is used at the time of adding the water can cause an over extraction of coffee, which in short, is nothing more than burned and bitter coffee.
3. We must then heat the necessary water to an approximate temperature between 92 and 96 ° C (to achieve that temperature it is brought to a boil and let stand 2 minutes), add the hot water and stir with a spoon, so that the water go through the coffee and later through the filter. Personally I recommend using lower temperatures, eh obtained excellent flavors and aromas using 86 ° C but using a good ground coffee. The time it takes to strain depends on the thickness in which the coffee is ground. The idea is that the coffee comes in a container that is the one that we will finally serve.
4. Once the process is finished, the ideal is to wash the filter very well, without detergent. Make sure it is clean and, if it is not going to be used soon, store it in the fridge so that it does not dry out and get damaged. As economic as it is, this method also takes care to ensure a good drink.

Image sources 1,2,3,4.