Delicatessen La Jersey Gourmet is a family business that has existed for over fifty years and has been run by four generations. Nowadays, Alexandra Castro is the experienced woman in charge and the responsible for La Jersey’s success.

Enjoying a Provolone and ham baguette or a Brie, Emmental, and goat cheese baguette alongside a cup of wine are some of the greatest pleasures one can enjoy whilst visiting La Jersey. Alternatively, some clients prefer a selected cheese and charcuterie board because, despite looking like a small shop, Alexandra’s gourmet boutique offers more than 300 Mexican and international products.

Among the exquisite cheeses, focaccias, prosciuttos, jabugo, cured, and serrano hams, the Italian styled stuffed figs and strawberries are some of the public’s favorites.

Find some of the best charcuterie and cheese products from Delicatessen La Jersey Gourmet in our #ComeLocal boxes and don’t miss the chance of preparing a home-made baguette with the best chorizo from Pamplona or a classic tapa with authentic Dutch cheese. Follow us on our social media and blog, Sabores México Food Tours, and learn more about the food suppliers behind #ComeLocal.

Article by: María José Ordóñez Platas

The post Delicatessen La Jersey Gourmet, quality charcuterie and cheese appeared first on Sabores México Food Tours.

The majority of food items we consume nowadays are processed products. Most of the time, we don’t even know where they come from, what they are made of, or their environmental impacts. Plus, many of these items have lost their essence and natural state because of industrialization. On top of that, most of the packaging materials used for these products generate a lot of solid waste and pollution.

Nevertheless, there is a place that fosters a zero-waste culture by selling food and day-to-day products in bulk. We are talking about Estado Natural, an exciting and sustainable project that offers a healthy and fresh way to consume products with no brands, no packaging, and great prices.

Whether you visit any of the eight Estado Natural stores in Mexico City or their online shop, you’ll always find superfoods, grains, cereals, spices, and snacks you can buy in bulk, as well as personal care products and jars or tote bags to keep every product fresh. 

Please find some of Estado Natural’s best seeds, snacks, and grains in our gourmet boxes. Be part of this fantastic project that helps Mexican food manufacturers directly by eliminating the supply chain.

Follow our social media and blog, Sabores México Food Tours, so you stay tuned on our new projects and learn more about the food manufacturers and those who collaborate with us inside #ComeLocal. 

And if you are in Mexico City and want to experience the city’s cuisine through the eyes of a local, join us on one of our Mexico City Food Tours.

Article by: María José Ordóñez Platas

The post Estado Natural: Zero-Waste Bulk Products appeared first on Sabores México Food Tours.

Anyone who doesn’t believe love enters through the eyes has probably never been to Oscuro Puro or Cachito Mío. Chocolate, quiches, and tarts take the leading roles in these two places and are prepared in unique ways. 

Oscuro Puro and Cachito Mío are located in the La Roma neighborhood. Both were created by Patricia Franco, a graphic designer passionate about pastry and chocolate.

Her sweet tooth inspired her to make products that exalt flavors and have attractive designs that are mouthwatering just from sight.

Cachito Mío

In 2003, Patricia Franco and her husband, Alejandro Veraza, combined their love for food and design to create a place with delicious and attractive sweet and savory options.

That is how Cachito Mío was born and emerged as a place defined by first-class ingredients, innovative flavor experiments, and ingenious tart and quiche recipes.

Inspired by French culinary techniques and Spanish gastronomical aesthetics, Patricia and Alejandro create original quiches and tarts that surprise everyone with the fantastic flavors hidden in each artistic slice.

A tart and a pie are not the same. Pies have a puff pastry crust and a cover on top of the filling. Instead, tarts are prepared with a sablée pastry and do not have a cover.

To honor the place’s name, the products in Cachito Mío are sold in small pieces or cachitos. Quiches and tarts can be cut in flawless slices that fit perfectly with each other, which is why you can easily design your own tart or quiche according to the flavors you choose.

Therefore, don’t worry if you crave both the huitlacoche and the rajas con elote (poblano chili and corn) quiche, or if you don’t want to miss either the guava tart or the cajeta (milk caramel) one. Order a cachito of each one and satisfy all your desires.

Oscuro Puro

Sharing the passion for Mexican cacao through eye-catching and flavorful products is something only Oscuro Puro can make. Since September 2018, this has been the place where locals and travelers enjoy the best Mexican chocolate products.

Every gastronomical experience in Oscuro Puro places both Mexican cacao and chocolate in their deserved place as pre-Hispanic treasures.

(Traveling in Mexico City? Explore the wondrous world of Mexican chocolate in the company of passionate locals with our Friends and Chocolate Tour in Mexico City.)

The versatility of chocolate allows Patricia to make attractive and original designs through which she shares her love for cacao.

In Oscuro Puro they work with raw materials from Tabasco and Chiapas. The products are cultivated in cacao haciendas or by independent farmers.

Depending on the preparation, Patricia and her team process the raw cacao. However, they sometimes buy the prepared chocolate from local producers and later sell it in the form of drinks, desserts, or bars. 

In addition, Oscuro Puro offers chocolate samplings, tastings, and some wine and beer pairing activities.

Whether you taste a chocolate cake and a craft beer at the desserts bar or buy some chocolate-covered seeds in bulk, in Oscuro Puro, you’ll always find natural Mexican products that excel in design and flavor.

Don’t miss the chance to taste a cachito of the exquisite Roquefort and walnut quiche from Cachito Mío or a delicious chocolate bar from Oscuro Puro.

That brings an end to our introduction to two fabulous Mexico City establishments. If you’re exploring Mexico City and would like the see the city through the eyes of a local, consider joining us on one of our Mexico City Food Tours.

Don’t forget to follow us on our social media and blog. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

Article by: María José Ordóñez Platas

The post Oscuro Puro and Cachito Mío: Designer Chocolate, Tarts, and Quiches appeared first on Sabores México Food Tours.

Coffee is an everyday drink, so we sometimes forget its importance in our social life.

Have you ever stopped to think that the “let’s go for some coffee” phrase is a way of saying “let’s connect, let’s chat and catch up”? How many conversations and memorable conversations have you enjoyed over a cup of coffee?

A lot, probably, because we’re speaking of a drink that links and reunites people, the way it usually happens at Francisco, José Luis, and Alejandro Barajas’s house. 

For these brothers, coffee has long been a vital family link and a passion they’re all crazy about. After many years of trying coffee in different places in Mexico City, they decided to start their own specialty coffee bar in the trendy La Roma neighborhood.

Since then, Café Barajas has been a place for them and others to begin the day, chill, and mostly, learn how to prepare and savor good coffee.

Francisco G. Barajas assures that one should not see this drink as a “simple black, bitter drink because there are many, many ways to drink coffee.” When speaking of good coffee, no cup is exactly like another; no two people enjoy their coffee the same way. 

(As an aside, we feel the same about quality chocolate as coffee. If you want to get to know the wonders of Mexican chocolate, take our Friends and Chocolate Tour in Mexico City.)

Despite being a coffee-producing country, most Mexicans consume processed, low-quality coffees, which involve unjust exploitation of fields and a lousy understanding of this historic beverage.

This is why Café Barajas works with coffee beans cultivated in Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Nayarit, Hidalgo, and Puebla. Plus, when any of the three brothers travel, they usually return with new coffee beans to experiment with and make some variations on the menu. 

For the Barajas brothers, it’s essential to look after each of the value chain phases in their coffee bar. This way, they can assure fair trade practices that allow them to prepare interesting, different, and unique coffee cups. 

Another of this coffee bar’s strengths involves its coffee extraction methods. Whether you prefer Turkish coffee, Japanese siphon, French press, or Italian cappuccino, Café Barajas is a place for all tastes.

Order whatever you want: Sam Pimentel, the barista, will be pleased to prepare it for you. 

Don’t miss the chance to taste the delicious coffee bean from Barajas or their famous Cold Brew, a soft, revitalizing, and high-caffeinated drink that takes 24 hours to be ready.

Find these products in our gourmet #ComeLocal boxes and experiment with the flavor and aroma of authentic Mexican coffee. Don’t forget to follow us on our social media, Sabores México Food Tours, and stay tuned on our blog.

You’ll get to know other small businesses we collaborate with and learn more about the exciting food producers that make #ComeLocal possible.

And if you’re in Mexico City and want to explore the city’s vibrant food culture with expert locals, consider joining one of our Mexico City Food Tours.

If you have any questions about our tours, get in touch.

Article by: María José Ordóñez Platas

The post Café Barajas: Mexican Specialty Coffee Experts appeared first on Sabores México Food Tours.

We offer two types of boxes that you can buy and that will be delivered to your address in Mexico City. Each box contains a selection of Mexican food products that will vary each week to compliment your pantry with a fantastic collection of Mexican flavors to enjoy during the Covid confinement.

Hereafter, we share some facts about the two gastronomic boxes we have available, so you identify the products they contain and you get to know their origin.

Sabores de Barrio 

The first takeaway option is the “Sabores de barrio” (the block’s flavors) box. It contains a variety of quality and great flavored Mexican products and dishes. For the first week, flavors include artisanal Mexican wine, beer, coffee, tortillas, tamales, jams, and chocolate.

Wines from Tinto MX are produced with crops from the Santo Tomás Valley in Ensenada, Baja California. With labels like Medio Cielo Azul, Eva, and Narcissus, this producer looks forward to positioning Mexican wine worldwide, demonstrating that wine is not an exclusive drink and showing that it can be matched with many dishes.

On another note, the tortillas from Cintli Tortillería are unique not only because of the superfood tortilla versions available (hemp, kale, or quinoa tortillas). These tortillas are produced with creole maïze harvested in Mexico and use nixtamalización, the traditional Mesoamerican technique for their preparation. 

In Oscuro Puro, chocolate is more than a craving or a compliment for food. The chocolate bars, desserts, and drinks they produce and sell are made from scratch with native cacao from Tabasco and Chiapas. These products have no artificial flavors or chemicals, and they truly conserve the authentic flavor of Mexican cacao. 

Besides their excellent roasted coffee beans, Café Barajas is well known for its versatile and energizing Cold Brew, which implies an eighteen-hour extraction process that involves high caffeine concentrations and procures a drink that can be combined with many flavors.

Prepared food from La Pitahaya Vegana is inspired by Mexican cooking but characterized by twisting it. Their dishes promote a sustainable lifestyle and use local seasonal ingredients with trustworthy origins. In addition, people from La Pitahaya are always in search of new techniques and flavors to share the best of Mexican food in their style. This is some of the best vegetarian food in Mexico City. 

Rather than specializing in coffee, Café de Raíz is the place for tamales. Here, the classic rolled maïze paste dishes from Veracruz, like the rice and cheese tamal, the mushroom tamal, or the cheese and hoja santa tamal, are perfectly well executed with quality and flavored ingredients.

Artisanal beers from Cervezas Artesanales Cinco Soles represent a Mexican legend via five types of fermented beers with unique flavors, aromas, and sensations.

Last but not least, Rebelión defines itself as a “collection of sensory expressions around the genuine national drink, mezcal.” With Espadín and Bicuishe, original mezcales from Oaxaca, Michoacán, and Estado de México, Rebelión seeks to disseminate the cultural legacy of this drink and highlight the flavors that can be obtained with its distillation.

Mercado en Casa

If you want quality, fresh, and exotically flavored everyday eating items, the second box, “Mercado en casa” (market at home), is for you. This box includes various Mexican ingredients from some of the best producers and distributors in the famous San Juan Market. For the first week’s flavors, Mercado en Casa includes a sample of Mexican raw exotic meat, some cheeses, deli meats, and artisanal jams.

El Gran Cazador is a familiar enterprise dedicated to meat distribution. They are highly known in the market for their Mexican, exotic, and prehispanic products. Their catalog includes classic chicken, duck, beef, and lamb meat, but one can also find unusual ones like crocodile, boar, and ostrich meat. On the other hand, salsas and jams from Manuel are really popular inside the San Juan Market. These prepared food items result from his experiments and combine Mexican flavors in original and innovative ways.

Seasonal fruits and vegetables from Rosse Gourmet are meticulously selected and their freshness is more than evident, which makes them perfect for any Mexican dish you’re willing to cook at home. Besides that, La Jersey Gourmet is one of the best-imported cheeses and deli meat distributors in the San Juan Market not only because its variety of lactic products on sale but because of its incomparable quality. Finally, the dried nuts, mole, and chili from Malena are an example of the unique flavors and textures that compose Mexican gastronomy and are undoubtedly worth the try.

Now that you know more about the producers, restaurants, and local stores participating in this project, dare to try the best gourmet flavors, fresh products, and exotic delights Sabores México Food Tours has chosen for you. Don’t forget to follow us on our social media to stay tuned and be the first to know what’s happening. Remember, #ComeLocal and support small food businesses because nobody surrenders to problems in Mexico. 

Article by: María José Ordóñez Platas

The post #ComeLocal: How To Support Small Mexican Food Producers During Quarantine appeared first on Sabores México Food Tours.