Cafés in Santa Ana & Santiago

Santiago: Calle 59 and the Tuesday dances

Santiago's parish dates from 1637 and was rebuilt in 1883, according to the city chronicler Gonzalo Navarrete Muñoz. Calle 59 between Calles 62 and 70 was once the Royal Road of Santiago, and the road to Sisal, Yucatán's main port before Progreso, left from this barrio.⁵

On Tuesdays from 20:30 to 21:30 the Ayuntamiento's Remembranzas Musicales brings live bands to Parque de Santiago, playing cumbia, danzón, mambo and cha-cha-chá while couples of all ages dance; it is free.⁶ The market opposite sells meat, fruit and vegetables in the morning, and in the evening the stalls around the park turn to panuchos, ice cream and marquesitas.¹

Near the park, Maiz Canela y Cilantro is at Calle 70 #464 and Café Voltaire at Calle 72 #450; Manier Café is at Calle 57 #582C. El Gato Gordo, also in the barrio, opens daily 09:00–20:00.

Manifesto, Cosmo and the cafés west of the center

Manifesto calls itself a casa tostadora calabrese (Calabrian roasting house) that roasts specialty coffee by hand in Mérida, is not a franchise and stands for fair pay to growers.² The original café is on Calle 59 between Calles 66 and 68; the company also runs a cold-brew bar in Colonia México and a third café on Calle 39, in Colonia Benito Juárez Norte.²

Cosmo, at Calle 66 #497B between 59 and 61, serves pour-over and cold brew with an all-day brunch, and on Saturdays a DJ plays house and techno.⁷ Galerón Club de Café is at Calle 53 #587, Codex Arcana at Calle 53 #534a and Civeta cafetería at Calle 66 #422.

Santa Ana: Tierra de Café and Calle 58

Tierra de Café buys from a cooperative of about 50 families in the El Triunfo biosphere reserve, in the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, where the coffee grows at 1,450 to 1,900 m.⁴ The couple who run it, Luis Andrés and Hanny, also supply cafés and restaurants in Mérida.⁴

Café Cafico, near Parque Santa Ana on Calle 58, roasts its own beans from Chiapas and Veracruz; when Half Half Travel visited, it was takeaway-only, with orders and cash payment at the door.³

Calle 47, the gastronomic corridor

Calle 47 is the city's gastronomic corridor, a project of about two linear kilometers from the Remate de Paseo de Montejo to Calle 48, with a wide pedestrian walkway.⁸ Latte Quatro Sette is at No. 465 and Baretto, an Italian-style espresso bar that sells Mexican roasts from Veracruz, at No. 480.³

Café del Sol, Health Ha at No. 496 and, a block south, Café Riqueza at Calle 49 #499B are on the same few blocks. La 60 Café Atelier is at Calle 60 #393, on the way from the park toward Santa Lucía.