During a previous visit to Mexico City, I had the pleasure of visiting one of the city’s first real specialty coffee bars, Chiquitito Café in Colonia Condesa. This lovely and friendly café stood out for its fresh approach towards showcasing fine Mexican coffees in a myriad of ways, and continues to do so every day. Now, it has a little brother in the Cuatémoc neighbourhood.
Located just one street away from Mexico’s gorgeous Avenida Reforma, Chiquitito Café 2 certainly serves a different clientele than its older sibling. Surrounded by embassies, hotels, office towers and many government agencies, Chiquitito Café 2 is a refreshing alternative to omnipresent Starbucks and greasy spoon diners in an area that is heavily frequented by blue collar workers, tourists and diplomats.
Owners Jeremy Clouser and Cecilia Morales-Ojeda source their coffees from a finca in Veracruz state, where the coffees are also roasted to order. Over a cup of coffee, Jeremy shared with me: ‘Here in Mexico City, going to Starbucks is still considered, by many, a kind of status symbol. But the people who frequent our cafés consider us to be more of a status symbol based on their own personal choices; i.e. traveling, buying organic food, wearing local designers, cycling around town and so on.’
Indeed, Chiquitito Café in one of a handful of Mexican specialty coffee bars that showcases what really great Mexican coffee can taste like. For a country that is the world’s 7th biggest coffee producer, Mexicans, for the longest time, only ever had the choice between Nescafé and American style coffee. And, despite the country’s proud food and drink heritage, its finest coffees were almost always exported.
In recent years however, things have started to change, for the great benefit of local coffee growers, baristas and coffee drinkers. As Mexico City continues to build its own, unique specialty coffee scene, it is places like Chiquitito Café and its fellow coffee bars that are making an impact.
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