30 cafés in 12 citys. Places change: check opening hours before you go.
In business at the same address since 1930, Café Equis bills itself as Mexico City's oldest coffee house. It still roasts its own beans, mostly organic Mexican coffee, and a basic cup costs very little.
Order: Café Veracruzano (with caramelised burnt sugar)
💡 Cash only; closed Mondays and for a short break mid-afternoon.
Open since the early 1950s on the corner of Morelos and Bucareli, this café is where Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are said to have planned the Cuban Revolution. In the 1970s Roberto Bolaño and Mario Santiago Papasquiaro made it a base of the infrarrealist poets, and journalists and Spanish Civil War exiles filled the tables.
Order: Café americano · Breakfast package
💡 Breakfast packages run all morning; coffee starts around M$30.
Dionisio Mollinedo opened Café de Tacuba in 1912 in a colonial house on Calle de Tacuba that had been a dairy. It is one of the most traditional dining rooms in the Centro Histórico, and from Wednesday to Sunday a tuna troupe wanders between the tables; the rock band Café Tacvba took its name from it.
Order: Café de olla · Hot chocolate with pan dulce
💡 It is very popular, so arrive early; the menu comes in Spanish and English.
A Mérida institution on Paseo de Montejo since 1958. It opens late in the afternoon and stays busy until late with dinners, drinks and coffee.
Order: Café con leche
💡 Opens around 17:30 and stays open late.
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
Founded in 1808 by the brothers Juan and Martín Urdapilleta, run by the Fernández family since 1926, and an icon of the port. Regulars call the milk server by tapping a spoon on their glass, a habit said to date to around 1890, when tram drivers rang their bells for service.
Order: Lechero (espresso with fresh, creamy milk) · Gordas or picadas for breakfast
💡 Tap your glass with the spoon when you want the lechero refilled.
A very old, family-owned roaster with several counters around Coyoacán, famous for good, cheap coffee in foam cups. Locals drink it on the sidewalk benches or carry it around the plaza with a bag of churros.
Order: Café de olla · Cappuccino
💡 Expect a queue on weekends; there are no real tables, just benches outside.
A long-time fixture a block from the Zócalo, historically Chinese-run and open around the clock. It is known for its coffee, fresh-baked breads and hearty homemade Mexican food at any hour.
Order: Café con leche · Pan dulce
💡 Open 24 hours, which makes it a reliable late-night stop in the centre.
A small, clean café by the University of Yucatán that has been a favourite of students and in-the-know visitors for generations. The menu mixes Yucatecan dishes with old-style diner and soda-fountain treats.
Order: Café con leche · Yucatecan breakfast
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
A relaxed Oaxaca café with friendly staff, good coffee and a pleasant atmosphere a few blocks from Santo Domingo. Try the house Café Oaxaqueña, lightly sweet with cinnamon.
Order: Café Oaxaqueña (with cinnamon)
💡 Most Oaxaca cafés close on Sunday, but this one is open daily.
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
A café and museum run by a collective of about 17,000 Indigenous coffee growers from Chiapas, with displays on the history of coffee in the state. The organic coffee is the real draw.
Order: Café de chiapaneca (local spiced take on café de olla)
💡 Closed Sundays; the museum part has a small admission fee.
A small fair-trade, shade-grown coffee café on the ground floor of the owner's home in Barrio del Cerrillo. The owner is happy to answer questions about the coffee and the neighbourhood.
Order: Shade-grown Chiapas coffee
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
A Xalapa coffee house with a garden courtyard, in the city that calls itself the coffee capital of Veracruz. Order a creative coffee drink or a plain americano, and pick up local beans to take home.
Order: Americano · A bag of whole-bean Veracruz coffee
The Xalapa branch of the Veracruz coffee-house tradition, a meeting point for politicians, workers and families over coffee grown in the region. It has plenty of tables for people-watching in the centre of the state capital.
Order: Lechero · Coffee jelly with rompope
Not a new-wave coffee shop but a local fixture that has been roasting and grinding local coffee for decades in this mountain town near Coatepec. Have a fresh cup or buy half a kilo as a souvenir.
Order: Fresh-brewed local coffee · Half a kilo of beans to take home
💡 Closed on weekends.
A specialty bar and roastery that serves award-winning Mexican coffees bought directly from producers it calls friends. The team's stated goal is that guests leave saying 'Life is Wonderful!'
Order: Mexican single origin on filter
Founded in 2015 to show off Mexican coffee, El Terrible Juan follows its coffee from cherry harvest to cup and bakes its own bread and pastries. It is one of Guadalajara's best-known specialty cafés.
Order: Espresso of Mexican coffee · House pastry
An open coffee lab in León that roasts on site and invites customers to cuppings. The bar is set up like a modern cantina with no barrier between barista and guest, and the basement 'Hangar' coffee-sack store doubles as an art gallery.
Order: Join a cupping · Pour-over
Founded in 2014 in Narvarte, Almanegra works directly with producers in states such as Hidalgo and Oaxaca and now has shops in Narvarte, Roma, Escandón and Moderna. It also runs public coffee courses and supports partner cafés.
Order: Gibraltar · Cold brew with tonic
💡 It gets busy after 6pm.
A Mexico City café chain that calls itself coffee people first, serving Veracruz coffee with a big all-day menu. It is best known for its cold brew, steeped for 18 hours and served classic, as a frappé, with horchata or with Licor 43.
Order: Cold brew with horchata
💡 There are several branches; Roma Norte and Condesa are the easiest for visitors.
Part of El Péndulo's chain of café-bookshops: a wide selection of mostly Spanish-language books, strong on art and architecture, with a coffee shop built in. A good place to linger over a cup between Condesa's parks.
Order: Café latte · Light breakfast
A tiny bar near Coyoacán's centre named after Laura Avellaneda, the heroine of Mario Benedetti's novel The Truce. There is no menu, just a sheet explaining the techniques and the beans from Oaxaca, Chiapas or Veracruz, brewed to order on Aeropress, French press, espresso or cold brew.
Order: Pour-over of a Oaxacan or Chiapas coffee · Cold brew
💡 Only about five stools at the bar, so go off-peak.
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
A small Roma coffee bar started by a pair from Baja California and Tamaulipas, with chess tables for regulars. The staff like to explain origins and brew methods, and the food runs from breakfast burritos to chilaquiles.
Order: Veracruz cold brew with milk · Affogato
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
Since 2012 Chiquitito has tried to make good coffee simple and friendly, explaining where each bean comes from without fuss. It works with Mexican beans from Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero, now roasts its own, and has six branches across the city.
Order: Espresso of Mexican beans · Filter coffee
Built around the science of coffee growing: live coffee plants show varieties and ripening, the roaster runs in view, and farmers often bring their own harvests to roast and talk with guests. Weekend cuppings are free.
Order: Single-origin pour-over · Join the weekend cupping
💡 Come on a weekend for the free cupping session.
Two brothers started Clandestino on the island of Holbox, serving specialty coffee in about the most remote spot they could find. Their Mérida café on Paseo de Montejo brings that relaxed island style to the mainland.
Order: Iced espresso drink · Classic pastry
A small, tucked-away coffee bar in downtown Pachuca, full of books, music and art. It serves only Mexican beans, roasted on site by its sister brand Quijote Tostadora.
Order: Pour-over of Mexican coffee · Espresso
A coffee curation bar in Querétaro's historic centre whose name speaks to the bond between 'you' and 'me'. It roasts carefully chosen beans, competes in barista contests and uses tastings to teach.
Order: Filter coffee from the current curation · Espresso
The city outpost of Finca Hamburgo, a Chiapas coffee farm founded in 1888: the coffee is grown on the farm, roasted in view and served at a specialty bar. Under one roof are a restaurant, the Mamá Higo bakery and a coffee school offering field-to-cup tastings.
Order: Chiapas pour-over from Finca Hamburgo · Guided tasting
💡 Book a 'From field to cup' experience or guided tasting through the coffee school.
A specialty coffee bar in Veracruz port with the motto 'good coffee is no accident'. Its coffee comes through a years-long relationship with Finca De la Vequia, a family farm in Veracruz state.
Order: Pour-over of Finca De la Vequia coffee · Espresso
A warm, cozy café in Xalapa's centre that lets you compare coffees from different Mexican states. Pick local Veracruz beans or try something from Oaxaca or Chiapas side by side.
Order: Veracruz coffee next to a Chiapas coffee