NATIONAL BEVERAGES

An important part of Mexican gastronomy are its beverages, cold or hot, which in any destination of the Republic you will find delicious options to delight your palate. One of the oldest Mexican beverages ? and very famous in the state of Tlaxcala ? is called pulque,  a fermented sap that is extracted from the heart of the maguey plant?s leaf (an agave plant with broad, flat leaves that come to a point on the end and grow a single tall flower at maturity).  You can enjoy it naturally or combined with fruit, for example: tuna (a seedy cactus fruit), pineapple, guanábana (durian, with black seeds), celery or lemon, those which are best known under the name of curados de pulque. Mezcal, the drink born during the colonial period, is produced by distilling the aguamiel (agave juice from wich pulque, mezcal and tequila is made) of various types of agave whose flavor is hard to forget.  The variety of mezcal that you taste will depend on the climate and the agave from which it is extracted.  There exist many types: the minero, a mezcal from the tips; the corriente or chaparro, the pechuga and the famous mezcal de gusano, which is traditionally served with salt prepared with a powder made from the maguey plant worm. This distilled drink is typical in the states of Oaxaca, Morelos, San Luis Potosí, Michoacán, Nuevo León, Jalisco, Durango, Zacatecas and Tamaulipas. Another of the traditional beverages in Mexico is tequila, which was just declared a "Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO. It is made with agave azul (literally "blue agave"), a type of agave that only grows in the region of the same name located in the state of Jalisco. In this area you can also try tesgüino, a drink prepared from a base of corn sprouts, ground and fermented, with contents similar to bear and that, on occasion to obtain a stronger flavor, can be made with corn cane or reed. In Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Tabasco, delight yourself with a Mayan liquor known as balché that is obtained from the fermentation of a tree bark found in the southeast region and sweetened with honey or anis. Also well-known are the aguardientes (literally "burning waters") made from stems, fruit or grains that can be enjoyed in Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosí. They are also known as lliztle (aguardiente of sugarcane, grapes, peaches or pears) in Veracruz and Tabasco, mistela (sugarcane aguardiente) in Chiapas and Jalisco and charanda (also sugarcane aguardiente) in Michoacán, colonche (aguardiente of concentrated red opuntia and sugar) is in Zacatecas and in Hidalgo there are delicious liquors prepared with aguardiente de caña (sugarcane)  not to forget the fruit wines of zarzamora (blackberry), guayaba (guava), and many more. Also made with fruit and produced in artistic forms are the orange and capulín (type of cherry) liquors in Campeche and the Estado de México, in Durango it is peach liquor, in Baja California and Nayarit that of nanche (a yellow fruit similar to a cherry), and in Puebla the region?s mountain range fruits produce liquors of acachul (with wild cherries) and maracuyá (passion fruit). But if you like to enjoy a good glass of wine, visit the vineyards of Baja California, Coahuila, Querétaro, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí or Guanajuato.  In all corners of the Republic, you can also enjoy the traditional aguas frescas ("waters" made with fresh fruit, sugar and water), chocolate espumoso (frothy, hot chocolate with vanilla bean) and many flavors of atoles (a warm drink made with brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, corn or rice to thicken and optional fresh fruit,), as well as the traditional café de olla (coffee prepared with cinnamon, anis and brown sugar) and ponche (made from a base of cooking seasonal fruits of December). These are only a few of the beverages that you will find in our country. We invite you to try them and discover many more throughout your journey. Salud! Cheers!