Gral. Salvador Alvarado S/N, Escandón I Secc, 11800 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
Turning left from my apartment every day, to head to the metro station, it took me nearly a week to realise there was a coffee shop almost directly below where I was staying, and a decent one at that. I think what also threw me was the amount of plant life in the window as I assumed it was some sort of florist or maybe even a private lot but when the peso dropped that I could actually go in, sit down and have a coffee I plagued the poor baristas like some foreign, coffee drinking locust. Having to compete for my affections with the café I’d discovered just a few blocks away (Cafe Illusionista) meant that it had to have good coffee and vegan eats, both of which were prominent from the outset as my stuttering Spanish was met with unfaltering English and laughed off confusion over how much I should be paying (I still get some of my numbers confused when counting in español). Also dealing in organic products, the vibe is one of laid back efficiency, where the service is excellent but never seems in a rush. The super chic decor is decked out with well thumbed books on shelves should you wish to pass the time with a quick read or brushing up of your coffee knowledge. Pet friendly too, it encourages the local community to wander in when out walking as people flit in and out without a particular direction. Dark coffee comes with the possibility of of dairy free milk alternatives if you are so inclined so that a cosy and casual ethos is embodied in everything around it. I made this such a frequent haunt of mine that it completely slipped my mind to take any pictures to document my days there. It just became natural to head on down early in the mornings or after returning from a day trip elsewhere. To have two such fabulous places to plan my days and write up about my travels is certainly a treat and it is here I spend my last few hours in Mexico City as I wait for a cab to come and pick me up for the airport and honestly, just sitting in the sunshine drinking great coffee is all I could really ask for.
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Café De Maria, Las Terrazas, Viñales, Cuba Cuba is not noted for its great coffee, in fact, ask any Cuban on the street and they’ll most likely shrug and respond dryly with “We don’t grow great coffee but we grow the world’s best tobacco and that’s enough.” But this may be underselling the product a little. The tiny island nation lags behind in industrial terms and its political situation means that exports are hardly booming either, so finding Cuban beans abroad is not too commonplace. Other South American countries have stolen a march and cornered the market and conditions are not always ideal when you sit in the middle of a channel that is battered by storms from the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the wide Sargasso Sea. Venture around 75km West of Havana though, and you’ll hit the Viñales valley, an area of immense beauty thanks to the luscious greenery and prehistoric limestone rock formations that now fall under UNESCO protection. The area was once a prime location for French coffee farmers that fled there after the revolution in Haiti due to the nutrient rich souls and the undulating mountains offering the right amount of shade for coffee production. But subsequent centuries of over farming and poor land management left a swathe of desolation in the surrounding hills. After the Cuban revolution, the newly installed government put in place a project to restore the region and now, at its heart is the ecological reserve of Las Terazas, a highly regulated tourist spot centred around a small community. This community consists of only a 1000 people or so, most of whom work in the reserve, but one such member was the elderly Maria who started selling coffee from the window of her flat to neighbours and passing tourists until such time that the business was so profitable, the government offered her a unit on the end of the block of flats to serve as a legitimate business venture. Sadly Maria is now gone but her legacy lives on in Café Maria that sits on the hillside serving up beverages made entirely from locally grown and sourced coffee, cocoa, and milk. Still a hub of the community, many schoolchildren will stop in for a hot chocolate on their way home whilst adults might decide on a concoction that mixes the other great Cuban product of rum. I opt for a thick, black coffee that’s strong enough to trot a mouse on but the depreciating comments about home grown coffee seem unfounded since the arabica roast matches up to almost anything else I’ve tasted. Perhaps slightly earthier due to its basic production (things are not roasted in giant vats with timers here or done to exact temperatures, it is all done by hand and as precisely as possible with limited technology, but this adds an extra layer of artisanal craft to it all) but I am convinced enough to buy a bag of beans to take home with me for my own machine at home. I sit by the railings of the cafe that look out over the lake and down into the valley below. Very few coffee shops in the world will have a better view and if you have coffee, nature and sunshine, I doubt that very many experiences will come close to that either. Cuernavaca 85, Colonia Condesa, 06140 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
A consideration for my travels now is my diet. Recently becoming a year long vegan, the proliferation of suitable foods is something I’ve started to take into account with this trip being the first big undertaking since my conversion to a complete absence of animal products. I don’t think I’d necessarily avoid somewhere if a plant based lifestyle is hard to abide by, as long as I could still avoid meat, but I try to maintain this wherever I go. Fortunately enough, Mexico has quite an impressive rate of veganism with around 11% of the population claiming to go the ‘whole hog’, if you’ll excuse the phrase, with a further 20% being veggie and another 15% being flexitarian and thus avoiding meat at least one day a week. As such, herbivorous food is in abundance and it doesn’t take me long to find a vegan cafe. It takes me a while to order what I want but a recurring theme, with almost everyone I’ve met so far, is that people are happy to be patient with you, and politely take their time, as long as you try to speak Spanish, even if they do then talk to you like a four year old (which is fair enough). This has occasionally led to a few hilarious moments where a server has, very deliberately, taken their time with me and my broken Spanish whilst completely ignoring other English speakers who have blundered in and blustered out anglophonics only to be put on ice in favour of the speccy idiot behind them butchering the native tongue. Basking in the sun, now that I’m seated rather than competing with it when on foot, on a verdant street of a leafy suburb, the coffee comes out on a wooden tray with almond swirls of biscuit that are apparently quite common. I can’t quite believe how good I’m feeling given I am yet to still sleep fully and that this will be my first proper meal since the consumption of the plane food that felt like it was just rotting in my gut rather than providing me with sustenance. Enchiladas arrive covered in a thick, rich, grey sauce alongside two pots of salsa.“The red one is very hot, the green one not so much,” says the woman waiting on me, making plenty of eye contact to make sure the stupid gringo has understood and won’t try to kill himself by chilli overdose. I respond by giving her the goofiest grin I can muster. “Si, claro. Muchas gracias.” Well now I have to try the red sauce even if it dissolves me from the inside out. I can handle heat as long as it adds to the taste, a burning sensation for the sake of it has never been my bag but I’ll be damned if this isn’t so flavoursome that I keep spooning more and more onto my plate. I think I am really going to enjoy myself here. Café La Habana, Avenida Morelos, Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico Nothing much to look at from the outside, Cafe La Habana is a massive one room cafe serving cheap, plentiful meals and thick, black coffee that goes down like rocket fuel and keeps you coming back for more. This spot has played host to many a famed writer grappling with the brusque service and writers block, including the world renowned Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But it’s not so much the literary connection that has me traipsing through the door but one that the name might rather hint at for, within these unspectacular walls, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Fidel Castro would come to chain smoke and drink the black tar coffee whilst planning the Cuban Revolution during their Mexican exile. I have no such history altering aims but merely wish to while away a few hours whilst battling only my sub-par Spanish. Viva la revolucion! The coffee is that bitter coffee that really gives you a punch in the gut to start the day, a real get up and go type of drink! Bags of beans are available but I fear the real coffee enthusiast might opt for one of the more trendier places popping up around the place rather than this throwback to something altogether more communal but seemingly a little outdated, which is a shame because the history alone should be enough to make it well worth a visit. Avenida Progreso 33, esquina con, Carlos B. Zetina, Escandón I Secc, 11800 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
I’ve started to begin my days with a visit to one of the two local cafes in order to get my caffeine fix, practice my Spanish, and to take a bit of time to order my thoughts on sights from the previous day and write down my adventures in my travel notebook. On some of these days, I’ve taken to ordering a sweet treat with my morning coffee, and one that has taken my fancy in the run-up to Day of The Dead is pan de muertos, which literally translates as ‘bread of the dead’. This can be found in almost every coffee shop, bakery and supermarket in the preceding weeks to the visit from the underworld and was traditionally something to put on the ofrendas. I find somewhere selling vegan versions and settle down to my almond milk latte with one of these to accompany it. Dusted in a heavy layer of sugar, it has a taste not dissimilar to an Eccles cake but there is also a hint of orange about them too. This comes from the marigold flowers that have their petals pounded into the dough. Extremely light, the sweet bread has the texture of a sponge cake and is topped by a rolled skull and crossbones, a bit like a hot-cross bun, to symbolise the dead. The sugar goes everywhere and it’s impossible not to make crumbs but it goes fantastically well with coffee to dip it in. El ilusionista cafe is where I’ve sourced this particular pastry and it has become one of two hotspots for me due to the fact it serves great coffee and vegan options. The building itself has really chill, on street vibes as it takes up a corner spot of two intersect roads and its two sides roll up, almost like garage doors, or great window shutters to bring you right out onto the street and serve for a really glorious communal vibe. Painfully hip, the laid back beat of the neighbourhood ebbs and flows all around you whilst you enjoy some really fine coffee. The rhythm of the street is right beside you whist the staff willingly play along with my schoolboy Spanish. I could while away whole days here if it weren’t for the fact I want to see more of Mexico City and it is no surprise that it is one of my last stops before heading off to catch my plane. |
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