Chef Lupita
Agua de Chaya con Limón
Yucatán's everyday tonic of boiled chaya leaves blended with lima agria, sugar, and ice. The bright green jarra that sits on every Peninsula table from Mérida to Valladolid.
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Tisana de Yerbabuena Yucateca
Created by
Yucatán's after-dinner mint infusion, fresh yerbabuena bruised and steeped in hot water with a strip of lima agria, sweetened with miel de melipona from the Peninsula's native stingless bees.
Beverages
Mexican
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Quick Meal
5 min
Active Time
10 min cook•15 min total
Yield4 servings
This is from Yucatán. Not from a generic Mexican kitchen, not from the central altiplano, from the Peninsula. The Yucatán is a hot, humid, limestone-flat land where the food is built on pork, achiote, sour orange, and lard, and where the after-dinner ritual is not coffee but tisana. The cooks of Merida, Valladolid, and the small towns of the henequen belt know that a meal of cochinita pibil or relleno negro asks for something afterward to settle the body. Yerbabuena is what they reach for.
The ingredient that makes this version Yucatecan is the honey. Miel de melipona is produced by the Melipona beecheii, the native stingless bee the Maya have kept in hollow logs for over two thousand years. The honey is thinner than European bee honey, slightly sour, almost floral, and it does not behave like the honey you put in your supermarket tea. If you can get it from a Peninsula apiario or a Maya cooperative, use it. If you cannot, use a good raw honey and know that you are making a compromise, not an upgrade.
My mother was not yucateca. She was from Jalisco and she did not drink tisana after dinner. The first time I had this was in a small house in Izamal, the yellow town, after a lunch of poc chuc and frijol con puerco that defeated me completely. The senora who cooked for us brought out a clay jarra of yerbabuena tisana, sweetened with miel de melipona from her cousin's hives, and within ten minutes I could breathe again. I asked her how she made it. She showed me her hands bruising the mint against the counter and said, "así nomas, mija." Just like this. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Yerbabuena, the spearmint variety common in Mexican kitchens (Mentha spicata), was introduced by the Spanish in the 16th century and integrated rapidly into Maya medicinal practice, layered onto an existing pre-Columbian tradition of herbal infusions made from native plants such as ruda, epazote, and hierba santa. The miel de melipona that traditionally sweetens this tisana comes from the Melipona beecheii, a stingless bee species the Maya cultivated for ceremonial, medicinal, and culinary use for at least two millennia, with hive-keeping documented in the Madrid Codex. Industrial honey production from European Apis mellifera nearly displaced melipona keeping in the 20th century, but cooperatives across Yucatan, Quintana Roo, and Campeche have revived the practice since the 1990s, and Yucatecan kitchens once again finish heavy meals with a tisana sweetened by the honey their ancestors guarded.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh yerbabuena (with stems)
Quantity
1 large bunch (30 to 40 sprigs)
rinsed
cold filtered water
Quantity
4 cups
miel de melipona or local raw honey
Quantity
3 to 4 tablespoons
lima agria peel (optional)
Quantity
1 strip (about 2 inches)
pith removed
canela de Ceilan (optional)
Quantity
1 small piece (about 1 inch)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh yerbabuena (with stems)rinsed | 1 large bunch (30 to 40 sprigs) |
| cold filtered water | 4 cups |
| miel de melipona or local raw honey | 3 to 4 tablespoons |
| lima agria peel (optional)pith removed | 1 strip (about 2 inches) |
| canela de Ceilan (optional) | 1 small piece (about 1 inch) |
Equipment Needed
- •Small clay olla or stainless saucepan
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Clay jarro or glass pitcher for serving
- •Hand-painted ceramic cups from Ticul or small clay jarritos
Instructions
- 1
Wash and bruise the yerbabuena
Rinse the yerbabuena under cold water and shake it dry. Take the whole bunch in your hand, stems and all, and press it firmly against the counter or roll it between your palms a few times. You are not crushing it to a pulp. You are bruising it just enough to release the oils. The kitchen will smell like a Yucatecan garden at dawn. That smell is the work doing itself.
Use the stems. The stems hold as much menthol as the leaves and they keep the infusion from turning bitter the way over-steeped leaves do. No me vengas con atajos. - 2
Heat the water
Bring the four cups of water to a gentle simmer in a small clay olla or stainless pot. Do not let it reach a hard rolling boil. Boiling water scorches fresh mint and turns the infusion bitter and gray. You want small bubbles climbing the sides of the pot and a faint movement on the surface. Cut the heat the moment you see that.
- 3
Steep the herbs
Drop the bruised yerbabuena into the hot water. Add the strip of lima agria peel and the piece of canela if using. Cover the pot and let it steep off the heat for 8 to 10 minutes. No longer. Past ten minutes the mint goes vegetal and you lose the clean menthol that is the whole point of this tisana. The liquid should turn a pale gold-green, not dark.
- 4
Sweeten with miel de melipona
Strain the infusion into a warm clay jarro or a glass pitcher, pressing gently on the leaves to get the last of the oils. Stir in the miel de melipona while the liquid is still warm so the honey dissolves clean. Taste. The Peninsula sweetens this lightly, not aggressively. You should taste mint first, sweetness second. Adjust with another teaspoon of honey if you need it. Así se hace y punto.
- 5
Serve
Pour into hand-painted ceramic cups from Ticul or small clay jarritos. Serve right after the heavy plate, after the cochinita, after the relleno negro, after the queso relleno. This is when the tisana does its work. The menthol cuts through the lard and the achiote and settles the stomach the way a cafe de olla never could. Drink it slowly. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh yerbabuena is non-negotiable. Dried mint will not give you the same clean menthol. If your supermarket does not carry it, find a Mexican mercado or grow it yourself. It is the easiest herb in the world to keep alive on a windowsill.
- •Miel de melipona is hard to find outside the Peninsula and it is expensive when you do find it. A good raw wildflower honey from a local apiario is the next best thing. Do not use processed honey from a squeeze bear. The flavor is wrong and the sweetness flattens the mint.
- •Some abuelas in the Peninsula add a small piece of canela or a strip of lima agria peel. Some do not. Both are correct. Cada cocinera, su tisana.
Advance Preparation
- •Tisana is best made fresh and drunk warm within the hour. Mint oils dissipate quickly and the bright menthol fades.
- •If you must hold it, refrigerate strained and unsweetened, then warm gently and sweeten just before serving. Do not reheat with the leaves still in the pot or the infusion will turn bitter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 245g)
Calories
55 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
5 mg
Total Carbohydrates
15 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
15 g
Protein
0 g
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