Pulquería El Burro Sabio

Pulque is the milky, lightly sour drink fermented from agave sap, and it was Mexico City’s drink long before beer. El Burro Sabio, on the Lagunilla edge of Tepito, still pours it the old way: fresh from Hidalgo every morning, ladled from big plastic barrels into glass jarras.

Start with a small glass of pulque natural, then move on to the curados, blended with fruit or grains: creamy oat, pink guava, green celery, and a rich pine-nut version that tastes like dessert. At lunchtime the kitchen hands out small tacos of stew to anyone drinking.

The walls are painted with faded agave fields, the jukebox plays cumbias, and the crowd mixes market traders, students and curious visitors. It is cash only and closes at nine, because pulque does not keep.