The Complete Guide to Mexican Beverages: From Atole to Zambumbia

Mexico’s drinking traditions spread far beyond tequila and mezcal. N.C. Stevens brings pulque, beer, wine, spirits, liqueurs, atole, cacao, coffee, soft drinks, herbal preparations, and even psychoactive beverages into a single history, taking a look at what Mexicans have drunk from the pre-Hispanic era to the present. 

Indigenous ingredients and techniques provide a foundation, but Stevens is just as much interested in what happened as people and technologies moved across borders. Spanish, Filipino, Chinese, German, French, and American influences all enter the story, producing unexpected connections that include possible Filipino roots for Mezcal distillation and German involvement in the development of Mexican coffee.  

Individual chapters combine cultural history with explanations of ingredients, production methods, and technology, moving freely between drinks that are usually treated as separate subjects. Beer and tequila sit next to herbal infusions and regional fermented drinks, while cacao and coffee are considered as both agricultural products and beverages shaped by changing patterns of trade and consumption. 

Stevens approaches drinks as artifacts through which histories of migration, agriculture, technology, commerce, and ritual can be read. The result is both a reference to the extraordinary range of Mexican beverages and an account of how centuries of exchange produced drinking traditions now familiar far beyond Mexico. 

Hardcover.