Coffee, Mexico City Style

At first glance, much of Mexico appears to suffer the fate shared by many coffee-producing nations: A rich, vital harvest of coffee beans gets almost exclusively exported abroad at prices much higher than can be fetched at home. In many regions, soluble coffees like Nescafé reign over restaurant tablecloths, kings of their market, unchallenged by an American-style brew or espresso. But Mexico City is a delightful exception to the Nescafé rule.

A 1954 Italian-built Faema espresso machine gurgles and purrs daily at Café de Carlo in Mexico City's Colonia Roma. Carlos, the owner, has for nearly two decades bought his beans from a single supplier in the mountains of Chiapas. He buys them green, roasts them in a deafening toaster at the front of his café, then grinds them and brews them in his vintage cafeteras. His coffee "has to have a lot of aroma; a strong flavor that isn't bitter but is full-bodied. And it has to be made perfectly in a perfect machine made by Italians." Having lived in Italy once, I appreciate this nod to Italian design. But make no bones about it, Carlos proudly sells "100 percent pure" Mexican coffee—though he won't say exactly where in Chiapas he purchases his stock as he believes he has found a sweet spot for cultivating the perfect bean. "It's my secret," he says.

In the Centro Historico, the colonial center of the city, decades-old cafés offer respite to shoppers and weary 9-to-5ers. A few of the Italian chrome-lined, pull-handle espresso machines—none quite as sparkling as the one at Café de Carlo—can be found on dingy countertops. The espresso and cappucino (or exprés and capuchino, as spelled in Mexico) is generally good at these coffee shops, which are possibly more interesting for their history and quirky owners than for their brew. The vantage point they offer to a traveler wishing to do little else but watch the world swirl by is certainly worth the 20-peso cup of joe.

Perhaps the most Mexican of coffee styles is café de la olla, literally (and poorly) translated as pot coffee. This coffee spiked with cinnamon, brown sugar, and (sometimes) ground chocolate is made in a clay pot over a medium fire. It is often served in markets along with a breakfast of ham and eggs or huevos rancheros. (My neighborhood market serves café de la olla in large mugs painted like Life Savers—a happy morning treat.) Here is a recipe for Mexican pot coffee, translated from a wonderful cookbook called "Cocina Mexicana para el Mundo":

Ingredients
6 cups water
1 whole cinnamon stick
6-8 small strips of cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
100 g brown or unrefined sugar
50 g ground chocolate
100 g ground coffee

Preparation
Put your pot of water to boil (use a clay pot if possible). When it begins to boil, toss in the whole cinnamon stick, cloves, brown sugar and chocolate. Lower the flame and, when the mixture begins to boil again, skim the foam produced by the chocolate. Once boiling, add the coffee and turn off the heat. Leave the pot on or near the burner to let the coffee set, but don't let it boil. Strain into mugs.