Cobertor de Papa: price, where to buy and how to spot the genuine one

By Luís Serra, Ra-Ro co-founder · View profile

About a 6 minute read

Maçainhas lies in the municipality of Guarda, close to the Mondego, the river whose water once drove the machines that worked the wool of this area. It is here, in an old factory by the national road EN 338, that the cobertor de papa is still woven. I get many questions about it, almost always the same three: how much it costs, where to buy it and how to know it is real. This guide answers them with what I was able to confirm.

The cobertor de papa is a churra wool blanket woven on a hand loom and then beaten with water in a fulling mill (pisão) until it felts, made by hand today in Maçainhas, in the municipality of Guarda, by the Associação O Genuíno Cobertor de Papa. At Ra-Ro, the genuine shepherd's blanket costs €198.10.

What is a cobertor de papa?

It is the traditional blanket of the shepherds of the Serra da Estrela and the Guarda highlands: heavy, warm, dense, with long white pile and an unmistakable smell of wool. The coarse, long churra wool is spun, woven on a hand loom and taken to the pisão, where it is beaten with water until it felts and grows the fluffy layer called papa. It is then carded and stretched on racks to dry in the sun. I told the full story, with the people who keep it alive, in Cobertor de Papa: the shepherds' blanket Maçainhas still weaves. There is also a short definition in the cobertor de papa glossary.

How much does a cobertor de papa cost, and why is it expensive?

A genuine cobertor de papa costs €198.10 at Ra-Ro (shepherd's blanket) and €271.90 (manta lobeira); in other shops I found prices between roughly €260 and €300. The price comes from time and raw material, not from a brand.

• The wool. It comes from native churra sheep breeds, mainly Churra Mondegueira and Churra do Campo, endangered breeds with few animals left. Shearing happens once a year, in May and June.
• The loom. Weaving one blanket in plain weave takes about four hours on a wooden hand loom.
• The pisão and the percha. The cloth is beaten with water in the pisão for about twenty minutes and then spends nearly four hours in the percha, the machine that raises the pile.
• Drying and shrinkage. It dries in the sun, stretched out. Being 100% wool, it shrinks along the way: it leaves the loom at about 2.5 m and ends at 1.75 to 1.80 m.

The association's president summed up the difference to the newspaper A Guarda: handwork yields three or four blankets a day, industrial production sixty or seventy. Whoever pays for a genuine cobertor de papa is paying for that pace.

Where can you buy a genuine cobertor de papa?

You can buy a genuine cobertor de papa directly from the Associação O Genuíno Cobertor de Papa in Maçainhas, or online at Ra-Ro, which works with the association. The association was founded on 15 May 2018 and is based at Estrada Nacional 338, no. 7, 6300-126 Maçainhas de Baixo, Guarda. It describes itself as the only place in the world where the traditional, handmade and authentic cobertor de papa is still made, and it runs guided visits and workshops; get in touch before you go.

The project is led by Maria do Céu Reis, who worked for more than 25 years at the José Freire blanket factory in Maçainhas. When the factory closed, she gathered former colleagues and founded the association, and the factory came back to life because of it. She weaves with her brother, Alfredo Baía, and her mother, Rosa Baía, who is still at the loom past the age of 90.

At Ra-Ro there are currently two shepherd's blankets left. The manta lobeira is sold out and made to order only. If you would rather start with something small, there is a notebook with a cobertor de papa cover.

How do you recognise a genuine cobertor de papa?

A genuine cobertor de papa is recognised by its origin (Maçainhas, made by the association), its churra wool and its fulled finish; the name alone is not enough. In an interview with the newspaper O Interior, Céu Reis said that some industrial blankets have taken the name and mislead consumers. Here is what you can check:

• Who made it. Ask for the maker and the village. The association registered the Cobertor de Papa trademark, with national and European protection, to set the handmade product apart from the industrial one.
• The wool. It should be 100% churra wool: coarse and long fibre, long pile and a wool smell. Blends with synthetic fibres, or the soft, even touch of fine wool, do not match the tradition.
• The papa. The surface is felted and fluffy at once, so dense that you cannot see the weave. This is what the pisão does, and a blanket that is only woven lacks it.
• Weight and water. It is a heavy blanket. The natural lanolin in the wool helps water run off instead of soaking in.
• The design. Traditional designs are few and well known: white, brown and white stripes, coloured stripes, plain colours and, more rarely, embroidery.

An honest note: the cobertor de papa does not yet have official certification. The association is working on it through the Papachurra project, supported by A.Certifica. Until then, the registered trademark and the origin are the strongest guarantees.

What is the difference between the shepherd's blanket and the manta lobeira?

The difference lies in design and use: the shepherd's blanket, also called barrenta, has brown and white stripes in the natural colours of the wool; the manta lobeira, also known as the Spanish blanket, has stripes in several colours. The technique, the wool and the pisão are the same. There is also the white blanket, plain colour versions (blue, yellow, green, red) and hand embroidered blankets. The manta lobeira glossary explains the term.

	Shepherd's Blanket	Manta Lobeira	Cobertor de Papa Notebook
Design	Brown and white stripes, natural wool colours	Stripes in several colours (also called the Spanish blanket)	Cover made from cobertor de papa cloth
Use	Bed, sofa, shelter from the cold	Bed and decoration, the statement piece	Daily writing, a gift
Price at Ra-Ro	€198.10	€271.90	€35.70
Availability	Last 2 units	Sold out, made to order	In stock

How do you wash and care for a cobertor de papa?

The rule is to wash it rarely and never with hot water or agitation. The blanket has already been felted in the pisão and, being wool, it will shrink again if mistreated, just as it shrank at the factory. What I recommend:

• Air it outdoors on a dry day and shake it.
• Treat stains locally with cold water and a cloth, without rubbing.
• For a full wash, choose a cleaner that handles wool, or wash by hand in cold water with a wool detergent.
• Dry it flat in the open air, never in a tumble dryer.
• Store it somewhere airy, in a cotton bag, protected from moths.

When in doubt, ask the association before washing. The people who make it know best what it can take.

Frequently asked questions

Related stories