At a Mexican restaurant in Seattle, Washington, the jar on the left holds jamaica while on the right there's horchata; drinks are ladled into glasses, as is typical throughout Mexico; public domain image courtesy of "ManekiNeko" made available through Wikimedia Commons.

Except for fruit juices squeezed into sterile, disposable cups, on non-windy days when there's no dust blowing about, 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 indigenous 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 (seen above): 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 (seen above): 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