A cafezinho is a small, strong, sweet coffee served in a tiny cup — and in Brazil it is less a drink than a social obligation.
The method
Water and sugar are heated together. Finely ground dark-roast coffee is added off the heat, steeped briefly, and strained through a cloth filter — a coador de pano, a fabric sock on a wire ring.
The sugar goes in with the water, not afterwards.
The cloth filter
Brazil’s traditional filter, and it does something paper does not: it holds back fines while letting more oils through, producing a cup with more body than a paper filter and more clarity than a press.
It must be rinsed thoroughly, stored wet in the fridge, and replaced regularly, or it turns rancid.
The social role
Offered to every visitor to a home, office or shop, at any hour. Refusing is possible and slightly awkward.
Making one
60 g coffee per litre, water and sugar heated together, steeped off the heat for three minutes, strained through cloth.