Cafés La Mexicana (© Álvaro López del Cerro)
It all began over a century ago in a small shop on Calle de Preciados. To this day, the aroma of fine coffee still fills this same street. Cafés La Mexicana forms part of life in Madrid, the city also home to its roasting plant. Here coffee beans are roasted every day of the year, ensuring quality and tradition in every cup.
© Álvaro López del Cerro
The smell of freshly made coffee is one of the small things in life that makes it worth getting out of bed every morning. And if you pass by the central Calle de Preciados you can bask in this very sensation whatever the time of day. It’s on this street, a stone’s throw away from Puerta del Sol and Plaza del Callao, where Madrid’s oldest coffee shop opened its doors in 1890. But that’s not the only record it holds. In 1991, it entered the Guinness Book of Records as the shop to have sold the most coffee in the past 25 years: 5,303,175 kg to be exact. To this day its record still stands. This is not something to turn your nose up at, especially since the shop in question is no bigger than twenty square metres. “La Mexicana” says the sign that hangs above its door, after its very first owner, whose name no one remembers.
© Álvaro López del Cerro
To learn more about La Mexicana – a Mexican woman of Spanish descent who came to Spain in search of her origins – we must travel back to the end of the 19th century. When La Mexicana arrived in Madrid, she fell in love with the capital and decided to make it her home. To do so, she purchased a small establishment, today’s century-old shop on Preciados, with a dream to sell a product that would stand out due to its sheer quality, a truly unique product. “Who roasts the best coffee in Madrid?” was her question. “Without a doubt, José Rodríguez,” was the reply. A self-taught artisan, José was renowned throughout the entire city. To support his family as the oldest child and an orphan, he bought and sold dried white beans and other food products, until one day he came up with a method for roasting the coffee beans he had received as payment from one customer. He got straight to work on the patio outside his house and soon earned great prestige. His talent, passion and intuition were enough to convince the shop’s owner. When La Mexicana died, her widower wished to sell the business, and so he offered it to the Rodríguez family who, generation after generation, have ensured La Mexicana continues to be a household name in the world of coffee.
© Álvaro López del Cerro
Since then, many things have changed. In 1969, the shop on Calle de Preciados was joined by another on Conde de Peñalver. Residents of the area welcomed it with open arms as, for many of them, the intense aroma of coffee took them straight back to their childhoods. Next came the shops on Calle de Fuencarral and Calle de Bravo Murillountil there were total of seven in the capital, with six more in the Community of Madrid and several more in other cities including León and Talavera de la Reina. There are also countless freestanding displays selling La Mexicana products in shops and boutiques throughout Spain and abroad. So, what is it exactly that we can buy? Authentic products. From single-origin coffee and coffee blends, to coffee beans and freshly ground coffee especially for your preferred brewing method.
© Álvaro López del Cerro
All of the La Mexicana shops are supplied with freshly roasted coffee from the roasting plant, which opened in 1975 at number 15, Calle de Alfonso Gómez, very close to Quinta de los Molinos Park. Green coffee beans packed in large sacks are shipped to the roasting plant from a range of locations around the world. It is there the roasting process takes place every day using traditional methods. In the mid-90s, the brand’s first espresso blend was created. This mix of Arabica coffees can be enjoyed black or with milk. A true work of art. A few years later, the so-called Private Assortment – a line of sing-origin coffee– would become part of the store’s catalogue. The first single-origin coffees to be included were from Costa Rica, Guatemala and Tanzania, followed by Ethiopia and Kenya. “To mark 120 years of selling coffee, we wanted to create something truly unique. With this in mind, our 1890 blendwas born. The result of many years of experience and expertise, this exquisitely balanced coffee – always delicious with any brewing method – was a great success. And today it is still one of our most popular coffees,” the owners tell us.
© Álvaro López del Cerro
To offer a truly immersive coffee experience, La Mexicana went one step further and opened the coffee shop Fanático on the premises of its roasting plant in 2016. This is their philosophy: “The origins of our beans, the hands that cultivate them and the soil in which they grow make each cup of coffee unique. There is not just one type of coffee, but many. Our passion is finding them all, roasting them and sharing them with fanatics of authentic coffee.” And that’s exactly what this quaint café is named after: Fanático, or Fanatic, is the name of this single-origin coffee brand created by La Mexicana. The brand’s aim is to share their great passion for authentic speciality coffee. “Fanático shines a light on diversity, difference and the richness of local products,” we’re told. Here, expert baristas prepare fresh coffee to be enjoyed on its own, or alongside tasty breakfast items.
© Álvaro López del Cerro
Just like the other shops, Fanático also stocks a range of La Mexicana coffees, which can also be bought online on the company’s website and delivered straight to your door within 24 hours. So, which one’s for you? For those looking for a cup of coffee with character, Bravío Café Colombiano Gran Reserva, which is aged in rum barrels for three months, is the perfect option. Or why not try Nariño Tambo, grown in a small town in the Colombian Andes, 2,200 metres above sea level; only 250 sacks a year are produced. Other special blends include the Zambia Kesama Estate with a light body and mild taste and Indonesia Java Wib Jampit, boasting a pleasant, rounded taste with warm chocolate tones and an earthy texture similar to that of cacao. If you’re still not sure, the best thing to do is ask any employee at La Mexicana, a brand that “has lived by coffee and its traditions” for 132 years and will continue to do so for many more to come.
Silvia Roba