Except for
fruit juices squeezed into sterile, disposable cups, I'd not advise drinking any mercado
non-alcohol drink. Mostly they are based on water, and the purity of not-bottled Mexican
water can never be assured. Even fruit juices are often diluted with suspect water.
Nonetheless, it can be fascinating to know just what people are drinking as they stand
next to mercado drink-stands. Especially in Indian regions, many of the drinks have roots
in pre-Columbian times. Here's a list of some of the most typical or otherwise interesting
non-alcoholic, mercado-area drinks:
- achocote: in Hidalgo,
water flavored with corn and unrefined brown sugar
- agua: or agua fresca: sweetened water of many flavors, each
flavor often with its own name (see jamaica, chía, and horchata)
- alfajor: in western
Mexico, a sweet drink based on coconut, almonds, honey and other ingredients
- atole: an important Indian
drink; basic atole: is water mixed with ground-up toasted corn tortillas or
ground-up toasted corn kernels.
- batarete: in Sonora, an
atole of ground, toasted cornmeal, coarse brown sugar, water, and salt
- bate: in coastal Jalisco
and Colima, a pungent drink made of the toasted, ground-up herb called chan (Hyptis
suaveolens), sweetened with honey
- cacao: a festive chocolate
drink; one traditional recipe contains ground chocolate, corn, lima beans, and anise,
beaten to a froth
- café: coffee
- chía: sweetened water
flavored with the herb called chía, which is a kind of sage of the genus Salvia
- chileatole: in central
Mexico, a salted corn atole flavored variously, for example with green chili, sweet
corn, squash-plant shoots, and epazote (Mexican tea)
- chorote: in Tabasco, a
cold drink prepared from cooked corn, ground toasted cacao, and sugar
- cidra: cider
- cuajada: a very thick
drink based on milk; like liquid yogurt
- gaseoso: commercially
bottled soda drink
- horchata: sweet emulsion
of water with finely ground almonds, or sometimes ground melon seeds or rice flour; often
flavored with acid pulp of the tamarind pod
- jamaica: tea of hibiscus
blossoms, water, and sugar
- jocoatole: in western
Mexico, an atole of black corn flavored with ground squash seed and salt
- jugo de naranja: orange
juice
- leche: milk
- nieve: ice-drink coming in
many flavors, especially fruit
- pinol: or pinole: an emulsion of corn and water, usually
sweetened and flavored with cinnamon, anise, etc.
- piznate: in Nayarit, a
corn and water drink flavored with unrefined brown sugar and cinnamon
- podzol: in Tabasco,
prepared by stirring ground, sprouted kernels of corn into cold water; flavored with salt
and chili
- pozol: corn paste mixed in
water, often sweetened or salted, and variously flavored
- refresco:
"refreshment"; usually refers to a commercially bottled soda
- sangrita: in western
Mexico, a mixture of orange juice, sugar, ground onion, chili, salt, and vegetable color
- té: tea