Mexican Coffee – Classic Recipe & History

History Of The Mexican Coffee

The earliest reference to the Mexican Coffee That I can find is from a 1972 book titled “The Good Time Manual” by Russell Riera and Christopher Smith. The book was a collection of restaurants that the two liked in the Bay Area. One of the restaurants the authors write about is Señor Pico in Ghirardelli Square. Señor Pico was a mexican/Souther Californian concept restaurant by Victor Bergeron. Victor Bergeron was famous for his chain of Trader Vic’s Tiki restaurants and wanted to experiment with a Mexican-themed restaurant. Ghirardelli Square is right next to the Buena Vista Cafe. Riera and Smith state in their book that being so close to the Buena Vista Cafe, famous for its Irish Coffees, Bergeron invented a Mexican-flavored version of the drink.

Around the 1980s the, Mexican Coffee became common in many Mexican restaurants, and by the 1990s, it started appearing in some cocktail books. Not to say Victor Bergeron was the first to mix tequila with coffee. People have been mixing coffee and alcohol for a very long time. Still, his Mexican restaurant, Señor Pico, was the first to give it a name and the regular recipe we still use today.

Recipe Resources

• 1972 The Good Time Manual – Riera, Smith
• Oct 1981 Texas Monthy Magazine
• 1995 Seagram’s Bartending Guide – Seagrams Company
• 1998 The Classsic Cocktails Book – White