In case you haven’t heard, Xalapa — the Athenian, if not underappreciated capital of Veracruz — is a coffee lover’s paradise. Here, a calm pace of living invites plenty of cafe sessions around a bustling historic center saturated with sprawling parks. Importantly, the region’s tropical, mountainous climate is ideal for coffee bean cultivation.
Nowhere else in Mexico will you find such a heavy concentration of Veracruz’s caffeine offerings in so many varieties as you will in this lush university town. With a gorgeous view of both Cofre de Perote and the Pico de Orizaba, you’ll enjoy every drip of locally-grown, freshly brewed beverage with a vista.
Of course, Xalapa’s coffee prowess doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The nearby Pueblo Mágico of Coatepec grows high-altitude coffee beans that are nationally renowned, with a coffee museum that actually serves coffee to prove it. Coatepec is considered by many to be the premier coffee producer in all of Mexico.
Not much further east, in the much-larger port city of Veracruz, you’ll find legendary mainstays like El Gran Café de la Parroquia: a coffee lover’s haven that epitomizes the hot-weather region’s love for black coffee with milk. Indeed, Jarocho-style coffee has been popularized over the decades, extending out to other states that have attempted to recreate the Veracruzan flavors.
Though Xalapa’s legacy cafes — La Parroquia, Bola de Oro, La Estancia de los Tecajetes and Don Justo, to name a few — are certainly worth visiting for their charm and traditionalism, there is a notable wave of younger coffee upstarts who are making their mark here right now. I’ve gone to many and taken my notes to round up my absolute favorites. Here’s why Xalapa might just be the nation’s pound-for-pound coffee champ.
Pera
View this post on Instagram
This is where you’ll find your favorite barista’s favorite barista hanging out. At Pera, coffee is both a science and an art. The coffees here impress with their purity of flavor and delicate preparation — the proper water amounts get weighed, the temperatures get carefully checked and the exact blends of chemistry evoke a sense of reverence with each sip.
Stroll up to the open bar or take a seat in one of Pera’s small, street-facing rooms with a view of the busy Historic Center. Their Xalapeños Ilustres is a must-try; a fizzy, caffeinated drink with a tonic base, shot of espresso and housemade agua de jamaica extract. For the purists, the flat white is most emblematic of Veracruz’s bygone cafe traditions, with a heavenly blend of concentrated black coffee and velvety white milk.
Fauna Café y Jardín
The quirky art and effortlessly chill vibes — in conjunction with a large, verdant back patio — highlight this recently-opened cafe. The food options are also extensive, particularly for breakfast, which, gloriously, is served all day. The menu includes Mexican favorites but is highlighted by contemporary takes on Veracruzan staples like panuchos veracruzanos, molotes de plátanos, panela-stuffed nopal huaraches and pumpkin-flower omelettes.
In lieu of a traditional Americano or espresso, which just about anywhere in Xalapa serves extremely well, try Fauna’s Origami V60 drip — a coffee filter popularized by 2024’s World Brewers Cup champion, Jia Ning Du-san — or a rompope-spiked latte frio. If you’re looking for a lighter, juicier blend, opt for a frutos rojos cold brew, an iced coffee chilled for 48 hours then infused with strawberries and raspberries. The more you sip, the more the mashed berries at the bottom of your glass begin to pronounce themselves, until you reach the soaked berries bottom, which surprisingly maintain every bit of their sugary punch to balance any bitterness.
Sin Título
Bright red neon signage flashing across the restored walls of this 14th-century building will alert you that you have, indeed, reached Sin Título. The small and simple — if not minimal — cafe and art gallery along Belisario Domínguez is just around the bend from the city’s beautiful lakeside neighborhood. In addition to high-quality coffee beans, I go here for a refreshing splash of cold ginger brew or chilled zarzaparrilla mixed with mineral water. For an added delight, toss in a hefty freshly baked chocolate chip and walnut cookie, or housemade hummus if you’re in search of the savory.
In past lives, the space was a home and an arts center. It’s often filled with students and intellectuals from the nearby university’s music and theater program— a common thread throughout Xalapa’s cafes, since the state’s largest campus attracts a diverse student population from around the country. The building is beautifully constructed from stone, brick and cement, with a small library nook overhead, often stocked with an array of local, independently-published zines for sale.
Casa Elo
View this post on Instagram
As with many of the cafes located in Xalapa, Casa Elo has a vernal flair and leans towards the photogenically trendy. Currently, it’s the hot spot for weekend brunch in the city, with young families and cool students congregating inside its historic, mansion-like space to enjoy caffeinated brews — and at later hours, cocktails, served until midnight. This is the place to go for a nice sit-down breakfast, with a healthy variety of omelettes, breakfast burritos and toasts. A solid beverage rotation features matcha, fresh juices, kombucha and more, with standouts like their cafe de olla and their signature latte de mazapán, a liquified play on the famously crumbly Mexican candy.
Santa Elena Coffee Roasters
On the edge of Xalapa’s upscale Animas neighborhood, Santa Elena awaits. Inspired by the third wave coffee movement in Japan, which emphasizes specialty coffees and direct trade with farmers for sustainability, the shop has a hip youthfulness and funky aesthetic.
Priding themselves on their locally grown and sourced beans, Santa Elena roasts everything in-house. Plus, they offer cups on the spot, or bags to go. From their tostado clásico to their Coatepec Honey and Cafe Lavado de San Pablo, as well as my personal preference, their Volcanic Roast, you won’t be disappointed. In their spare time, they offer education on Veracruz’s bean cultivation and are passionate advocates for informing consumers on how the local coffee ecosystem functions. Extra points for the retro Super Nintendo available to play in their comfortable lounge.
Emilia Café
View this post on Instagram
With two locations, Emilia has become one of my go-to spots for coffee and pastries alike. Though the cafe’s ethos is largely driven by modern design elements, Emilia maintains a hint of an Old-World, Parisian haunt. The downtown location offers a small, street facing to-go window, where city dwellers can order, pay and take off without ever stepping foot inside the often-crowded — albeit miniature — cafe. The menu is no frills and made for the purists and traditionalists, making it an ideal place to grab a smooth Americano or espresso, and perhaps a lemon-zested cinnamon roll to begin your day in the City of Flowers.
Reformanda
In 2016, Reformanda’s flagship cafe opened near beautiful Parque Juarez — effectively Xalapa’s Zócalo — as a noteworthy newcomer. Since then, they’ve expanded to Murillo Vidal with a flat-iron style corner shop on the opposite end of downtown. The co-founder, Jared Orrico, is Q Arabica Grader-certified, the highest international recognition for a coffee taster. He regularly speaks on podcasts about coffee in Veracruz while also providing classes for Xalapeño javaphiles.
Reformanda has a constantly rotating seasonal menu, which adds to the attraction. But the stars of the show at “R” are the drinks: a guajillo-chile infused cold brew; a housemade rice horchata infused with cinnamon and cold brew; an organic orange juice infused with orange peels, orange bitters and cold brew known as the cold brew Old Fashioned and holiday specials like the apple latte for a taste of New Year.
Dos Gardenias
In a city as saturated with exquisite coffee as Xalapa, you sometimes have to look for spots that offer something different and unique. That’s where Dos Gardenias, a recently opened vinyl record shop that serves locally-sourced coffee, provides a fresh outlet. Run by a group of 20-somethings, the spot is located inside an opulent, hacienda-like compound complete with its own garden, micro farm, guitar repair workshop and, of course, multi-room cafe overlooking the cobblestoned avenue below. The breakfast dishes are worthwhile and extremely affordable, and the coffee is as good as you’ll encounter anywhere. Ask the barista to toss on their favorite vinyl of choice, or dig through their diverse collection and put on something yourself to start off your day.
Oropéndola Barra de Café
Oropéndola, hidden in one of the city’s oldest alleys, deserves an entire spread inside a modern architecture and design magazine. Its precise mixture of glass, stone, bricks, polished concrete and wood are a cosmopolitan wonder.
Known for their excellent brunches and dinners, the drinks are no slouches, either. Ask for the home-brewed kombucha by the bottle if you’re in the mood for an effervescent boost, or go with a classic coffee pour, which contains all the desired notes of honey, red berries and chocolate. If you’re lucky, you’ll snag a limited balcony seat overlooking Oropéndola’s enclosed stone patio, while huddled among the rooftops clustering the tight alley below It’s also just a staircase away from the city’s most beloved, oldest church, the Iglesia de San José. Get a carajillo while you’re there — the famed espresso cocktail made with Licor 43 — and enjoy an evening with nothing to lose.
Honorable mentions
Alan Chazaro is the author of “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album,” “Piñata Theory” and “Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.
