Tepoztlán: A pulque drinker’s ‘paradise’

Arriving successful Tepoztlán — the mountainous Pueblo Mágico astir 90 minutes southbound of the bosom of Mexico City’s Coyoacán vicinity — evokes a surrealistic reverence for Mexico’s earthy splendor.

Cradled successful the Sacred Valley of Tepoztlán, aft crossing into the authorities of Morelos, you’ll marque a sweeping, winding descent into the forest-encircled town. A earthy amphitheater is formed by the surrounding Sierra de Tepoztlán and Chichinautzin upland range, portion Tepoztlán’s cobblestoned roads and lazy plazas underscore the tiny town’s relaxing rhythms.

A spiritualist getaway

The Pueblo Mágico of Tepoztlán is simply a singular spot to sojourn nether immoderate circumstances. But if you emotion pulque, it’s paradise. (Enrique Amaya/Unsplash)

The pueblo is mostly known for attracting hikers from astir the globe, conveniently located astatine the borderline of El Tepozteco National Park, which includes a 1.8-mile round-trip trek up a steep elevation that culminates with the 500-year-old Pyramid of Tepoztecatl and panoramic views astatine the summit. In addition, the municipality provides a modernized premix of high-end eating options (such arsenic Nixte, an upscale smokehouse serving indigenous Mexican nutrient from a wood-fired kitchen), minimalistic elegance (Casa Ayehualco erstwhile belonged to the Mexican architects Diego Villaseñor and Ana María Maldonado) and modern Mexican creation (Dilao, a surrealist sculpture garden, was inaugurated by the creator Eduardo Olbés successful 2019).

Above all, Tepoztlán is heralded arsenic a spiritualist getaway, with an abundance of health-forward, integrated and old-world experiences focused connected rejuvenating the body, caput and spirit. Massages, temazcales and psychedelic-induced retreats abound successful the pueblo of conscionable implicit 14,000.

And yet, 1 of its top features, which possibly gets overlooked among Tepoztlán’s surplus of attractions and temptations, tin beryllium virtually traced backmost to Mexico’s Indigenous roots with pulque.

Tepoztlán, a municipality of pulque worship

Pulque — the fermented sap of agave plants, known arsenic aguamiel — is believed to beryllium implicit 2,000 years old. A viscous, milky powerhouse, it’s 1 of Indigenous Mexico’s astir defining libations.

What precisely does Tepoztlán person to bash with pulque? Mexicas believed the portion to beryllium the tract of Tepoztécatl — the deity of fermentation and drunkenness. If that’s not convincing enough, Tepoztécatl’s mother, Mayahuel, is celebrated arsenic the goddess of agave, fertility and — you guessed it — pulque.

Both Tepoztécatl and Mayahuel are intimately linked to Tepoztlán’s pre-Hispanic mythology, wherever Tepoztécatl, successful particular, is believed to person founded the community. The adjacent pyramid is recognized arsenic an important ceremonial tract dedicated to Tepoztécatl, built betwixt 1150 and 1350.

The El Tepozteco pyramid successful Tepoztlán was an past pilgrimage tract for worshippers of Tepoztēcatl, the Mexica deity of pulque. (Asedzie/Wikimedia Commons)

It makes sense, then, that Tepoztlán has go a pilgrimage-worthy halfway for pulque worship, with much than 2 millennia’s worthy of pulque cultivation and consumption. To date, tlachiqueros — a word derived from the Nahuatl connection tlachiqui, oregon “one who scrapes,” to denote cultivation workers who thin agave sap — tin beryllium recovered passim the region, gathering the aguamiel that yet alchemizes into pulque. This caller proviso tin beryllium recovered astatine assorted pulquerias successful municipality today, wherever determination is ne'er a shortage of the Mesoamerican “nectar of the gods.”

Pulque depletion successful Mexico

And yet, Tepoztlán is not a wide shaper of pulque, either. Instead, it’s hyper-local, artisanal and family-operated. Rural areas successful Puebla, Hidalgo and Tlaxcala boast the largest pulque production. But Tepoztlán, contempt its comparatively diminutive size, is inactive viewed arsenic a pulque drinker’s paradise for its prime and scope of pulquerias.

Though profoundly steeped successful past customs, pulque is precise overmuch a portion of the present-day Mexican lifestyle. According to Scielo, the depletion of pulque has risen successful the past fewer years “due to a greater appreciation of nationalist individuality and its integrated quality escaped of conservatives.” The emotion of pulque is ostensibly trending upward, arsenic has been documented by Mexico News Daily. Tepoztlán, therefore, is successful a premier presumption to showcase its champion properties.

Gardens, wellness and pulque

When it comes to the artistry of organic, dilatory consumption, it doesn’t get much earthy than a solid of pulque. The beverage is simply a large acceptable for Tepoztlán’s gastronomic ethos, known for its array of steadfast foods and accepted kitchens that service determination dishes similar itacates — a simple, corn-based crockery often stuffed with earthy ingredients similar flor de calabaza.

In a modern-day context, this operation of wellness and indigenous foods translates deliciously for travelers and locals alike, who tin sensation a scope of pulque styles and flavors to spell on with it all.

Pulquimia — a botanical plot and pulqueria rolled into 1 — is simply a starring illustration of however the adjacent procreation of pulquerias are capable to connection an elevated acquisition that remains grounded successful pulque traditions. Flavors see inventive, health-forward combinations similar cacao with amaranth, cinnamon and roseate petals, oregon peanut with manzanilla and orange. The elixirs are said to assistance with one’s digestive and immune systems and wide health. Here, pulque isn’t thing of the past to beryllium consumed arsenic a novelty. It’s a regular manner anchored successful holistic wellness practices. The pulqueria includes a covered outdoor patio with views of a lush plot and the abutting upland peaks. In all, the acquisition is refreshing and calming, if not medicinal, successful a mode that would beryllium hard to find successful a larger metropolis environment.

A usher to Tepoztlán pulquerias

Pulquimia, some a botanical plot and a pulqueria, is 1 of the apical spots to illustration the ancestral beverage successful Tepoztlán. (Pulquimia/Instagram)

Of course, determination are besides classical pulquerias that proviso old-school dive-bar vibes alternatively than that of a glamorous edifice getaway. One specified associated is Pulques El Nectar Tepozteco, located connected 1 of the pueblo’s main streets — which closes to vehicles connected weekends and becomes swarmed by passersby and vendors connected foot. The pulqueria is casual to find: it has a elephantine mural of a rabbit holding up a clay cupful that is overflowing with pulque froth. Symbolically, the rabbit is simply a motion of fertility and intoxication successful Mexica cosmology, and it is believed that the goddess of pulque gave commencement to 400 rabbits. There is adjacent a codex of drunkenness associated with assorted rabbits from Mexica times, demarcating one’s assorted levels of intoxication (loss of control, happiness, etc.).

Reveling successful the tone of pulque

El Nectar embodies this spirit. When I entered upon my archetypal of a fewer visits, a antheral was passed retired successful a chair, drunkenly asleep, portion others reveled joyously nearby. The paper is extensive, with nary little than 10 options listed down the antagonistic astatine immoderate time. I went with a mazapan and aboriginal a guayaba — some affluent successful texture, and 1 of which included the crushed remains of earthy ingredients that were astatine immoderate constituent breached down to marque the basal of the beverage.

The pulque is thick, unmistakably caller and made in-house, poured from ladles into assorted cupful sizes, depending connected your level of thirst and appetite. I asked to talk with an proprietor to get a consciousness of the place’s history, but I was told he’s lone disposable connected weekends, and alas, I was determination during the week. But adjacent without a backstage past lesson, the pulque astatine El Nectar was genuinely among the champion I’ve ever encountered successful my hunt for the finest “Champagne of the gods.”

Sipping each the way

I was besides informed that the creatively named Pulques Tepoztlán, located further up the colony roads, was a worthwhile halt connected my pulque tour. Unfortunately, I was ne'er capable to marque it owed to ongoing storming conditions during my sojourn and changeless powerfulness outages.

Before I near town, I did, however, plaything by different purveyor of pulque: Pulque Coyote. Surreptitiously recovered wrong a country store that different functions arsenic a de facto Oxxo, you tin inquire the cashier astir their pulque. It’s made locally, of course, and is bottled successful an old, unmarked integrative jug, which surely did not person pulque successful it before. It’s a spot of a moonshine variety, without overmuch mentation oregon frills. The spot was lone connected my radar due to the fact that I asked the concierge astatine my edifice wherever helium recommends trying pulque. At Coyote, you tin inquire for your desired magnitude and instrumentality it to go, arsenic determination are nary seats oregon places to lounge wrong the tiny country shop.

Wherever you load up, you volition brushwood a assortment of pulquerias with their ain rotation connected pulque, to beryllium sure, each astir town. Go forth, and portion responsibly.

Alan Chazaro is the writer of “These Spaceships Weren’t Built For Us” (Tia Chucha Press, 2026), “Notes from the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021), “Piñata Theory” (Black Lawrence Press, 2020), and “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album” (Black Lawrence Press, 2019). He is simply a postgraduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People programme astatine UC Berkeley and was selected arsenic a Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poetry Fellow astatine the University of San Francisco. His enactment tin beryllium recovered successful NPR, The Guardian, SLAM, GQ, L.A. Times, and more. He is presently based successful Veracruz.