Mistela de Canela Conventual

Puebla de los Angeles, in the central highlands on the old road between Veracruz and Mexico City, is where this cinnamon mistela belongs. I tie this version to the Clarisa kitchens of the Convento de Santa Clara, the poblano house that sold sweets and cordials to keep the convent running. That is not romance. That is accounting, prayer, and pantry work.

The ingredients tell you the map. Aguardiente de caña comes from cane country, sugar from the poblano mills around Izucar and Atlixco, and canela de Ceilan entered the city through the trade roads that fed its convent cupboards. Puebla's nuns knew how to make a few costly sticks perfume a whole bottle. Ask the spice vendors at Mercado 5 de Mayo: true canela is thin, layered, and sweet. Cassia is hard bark with an attitude.

This drink has no chile, no lime, no bar trick. The flavor is cinnamon, clean syrup, and cane spirit softened by time. You make the syrup, cool it completely, pour in the aguardiente, and wait. No me vengas con atajos. Hot syrup and alcohol make a rough bottle. Patience makes a cordial.

Serve it in small hand-blown glasses or Talavera poblana cups after a holiday meal, not in a giant cocktail glass full of ice. The women who perfected these convent liqueurs understood restraint. Two ounces is enough. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.