If you’ve ever wandered through a Costa Rican market or stayed in a family-run bed and breakfast, it’s likely you’ve encountered an unusual coffee set-up — a wooden frame holding a cloth bag with a cup below to catch the fresh brew. This unassuming device is the Costa Rican pour-over coffee rig, affectionately called a chorreador. It is more than a coffee maker; it is a symbol of tradition, patience and the togetherness of yesterdays morning.
What Is a Costa Rican Pour-Over Coffee Rig?
At first, it may look like a science experiment, or a DIY art project. Yet this humble one-sheet sheet is embedded in the very fabric of Costa Rican life. The apparatus is typically a wooden stand an elevated from the cup or pot cloth filter bag, known as a bolsita. Ground coffee is dumped in the bag, hot water follows and gravity and a few minutes take care of the rest.
I’m not talking about some high-tech coffee machine; no buttons, timers, or electricity are in consideration like the coffee makers of today. No one but you, hot water and the soothing ritual of steeping.