Oaxaca food, and coffee heaven

Say “Mexican food,” and you think Oaxaca. Say “Oaxaca,” and you get mezcal, mole, unforgettable cuisine—and yes, coffee.

When I first traveled to Mexico with Isabel in 2017, visiting Oaxaca was high on our wish list. And it didn’t disappoint. We were originally drawn by the famous Día de Muertos—the Day of the Dead—celebrations on November 1st. The evening before and the day itself are filled with vibrant remembrance, as families honor their loved ones in cemeteries and across the city. Thousands fill the streets. Hundreds of food stalls appear overnight. There’s food, drink, music, and color everywhere.

Coming from Belgium, where November 1st—Allerheiligen or All Saints’ Day—is more subdued, this was a cultural revelation. Back home, we might quietly place chrysanthemums on a tombstone, if we remember at all. But in much of Latin America, and especially Oaxaca, it’s one of the most important days of the year.

And honestly, Oaxaca is worth visiting every other day of the year too. It’s widely considered the culinary capital of Mexico, a title not handed out lightly in a country of such rich food culture.

People from all over Mexico—and the world—travel to eat in Oaxaca. The food here is deeply local, shaped by Indigenous recipes, native ingredients, and small-scale farmers from the surrounding valleys. Walk through the markets of Oaxaca de Juárez and you’ll see dishes you won’t find anywhere else in the country.

Queues wrap around corners for memelas—toasted corn cakes layered with beans and Oaxacan cheese. Children tug at their mothers' skirts for steaming street-side tamales, wrapped in corn husks. In dimly lit cantinas, men sip mezcal in silence while corridos—piercing storytelling ballads—echo through the room. Behind the bar: hundreds of bottles of locally made mezcal, stacked like trophies.

This fierce pride in tradition and local sourcing is why the Michelin guide has taken such a keen interest in Oaxaca. It’s food at its most rooted—and most remarkable.

But hey, this is a coffee blog after all, isn’t it?

As someone who's worked in specialty coffee for years, I’ve tasted some stellar Mexican coffees—often from Veracruz or Chiapas. So imagine my surprise when I cupped a coffee from Oaxaca’s Sierra Sur region and was blown away.

The lot came from OZOLOTEPEC, a mountainous area in the southern part of the state. Oaxaca borders Veracruz to the north and Chiapas to the south, and its coffee farms range from 900 to 1,650 meters above sea level. This lot came from one of the highest-elevation farms—and that altitude delivered exactly what we love at Caffenation: clarity, fruit, and vibrancy in the cup.

Though Oaxaca is less technologically advanced than other coffee-growing regions, its coffees are both distinctive and increasingly in demand. You’ll often find sweet caramel notes, yellow fruits, orange-like acidity, a creamy body, and floral undertones in the best Oaxacan lots.

The producers in Ozolotepec mostly grow shade-grown, washed coffees. This sustainable method helps preserve biodiversity and soil health by providing refuge for native plant and animal species. There’s no proper road from the farm to town—mules still carry sacks of coffee down the mountain. It’s a reminder of the incredible effort behind every cup.

And these farmers face real challenges: remote locations, limited infrastructure, and threats from drug gangs and systemic poverty. Yet, they continue to produce beautiful, reliable coffee against the odds.

Sidenote: Mexico exported 2.6 million 60-kilo bags of coffee in 2018/19. That’s less than 1% of the global total, but still enough to make it the ninth-largest coffee exporter in the world. And coffees like this one from Ozolotepec show just how much potential still lies untapped in regions like Oaxaca.