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Sample Article Copy for Yucatan Today

 

Cooler than a Caribbean Breeze

Who Serves the Best Horchata in Merida?

 

You’ve spent the morning shopping along Paseo de Montejo, hunted for the main post office, visited the cathedral, strolled around the Zocalo, and made a quick trip to the Macay.  It’s now mid-afternoon, the warmest part of the day.  You’re hot, tired, need a place to sit down, and suffer from a king-sized thirst.  What kind of drink can revive you?

 

             If you answered Coca-Cola or Sprite, you’re wrong.  Go directly to jail and do not pass go.  Horchata is the drink to order.  It revives and energizes you like nothing else, boosting your wilted constitution in the process.  After several hours in the Yucatecan heat, horchata is a magical elixir.  It looks delicious, smells fragrant, and, most important, cools you all the way down when you take a drink. 

 

             Originally, horchata was an Arabic beverage but eventually made its way to Mexico via Spain.  The drink essentially consists of rice milk mixed with water or milk.  It is flavored with cinnamon or almond extract and served over ice.  You can find it on the menu in cafes and restaurants throughout the Yucatan.  After a long day visiting cultural sites like Uxmal or Chichen Itza, there is nothing quite like the sight of your waiter serving a tray with glasses of iced horchata on it.

 

             While the above provides some interesting cultural information, you’re still terribly thirsty, right?  So, let’s get down to business and help you quench that monster thirst.  Who serves the best horchata in Merida?  It’s a difficult question and one that requires establishing the general criteria for a good horchata.  After much discussion and debate, my fiancée and I came up with the following standards for a glass of this delightful liquid.

 

             First, horchata must be served in an oversized glass, and there must be a lot of it.  Next, the horchata must be served over ice -- not just a few token cubes, but a glassful.  The Yucatecan sun is hot even in December and January, and drinks do not stay chilly long without lots of ice. Psychologically, it also helps if the glass looks frosty when the waiter brings it to you.    Third, the horchata must have the right taste, which means that the drink has more than a hint of cinnamon to it.  This flavor must be strong enough too.  If there is not enough cinnamon in your drink, it will taste weak and is less tangy on your palate.  Almond extract is fine, but it seems to make the drink less thirst quenching than cinnamon.  By itself, rice milk is not a terribly interesting drink.  Finally, your horchata should be mixed thoroughly before it arrives, so that it does not separate in your glass.  Of course, it helps if you have a straw, but this is secondary to the other criteria.

 

             So, we return to our original question. Who serves the best horchatas in Merida?   During our recent three-week stay, we spent a considerable amount of time researching the answer to this question.  While we discovered and enjoyed many cafes around Merida, all of which served good horchatas, the establishment serving the best horchata is the Gran Café.  It’s located just beyond the city center at the end of Paseo de Montejo, near the archeological museum, not far from the Hyatt and Fiesta Americana hotels.  Their glasses of horchata consistently met all of the criteria outlined above.  After a morning of Spanish lessons and a promenade along the hot boulevard, horchatas at the Gran Café were just what the doctor ordered!