On one of your mornings in Oaxaca, maybe before a hike to Ixtepeji, or out for a stroll after spending the night at the Quinta Real, walk down the street beside the Templo de Santo Domingo and look for a display case full of some of the most incredible chocolate croissants you’ll find, not only in Oaxaca, but in the world. Your Guide already has a post on my favorite coffee shops in Oaxaca, but I just wanted to emphasize something wonderful about the coffee shop, Oaxaca en una Taza. Let’s spend a moment with their chocolate croissant…
The first time I had this chocolate croissant, was by chance. I was staying outside of Oaxaca in a small town, and came in early in the morning to visit some of the markets and buy food. It was shortly after 8am, and I was walking east, into the sunshine. I passed the small entrance to Oaxaca en una Taza. I wasn’t looking for a coffee shop. But their pastry display case caught my attention. In particular, the chocolate croissants were displayed on a tray right beside the sidewalk. I’d walked past, but then turned around. Just the way the chocolate croissants sat in the tray, looked unique. They weren’t fluffy. They were dense. The chocolate coating was fresh. They oozed chocolate from the inside. They sat heavy in the tray, like there were multiple sticks of butter in each one pulling them down to the center of the planet.
My coffee came first. And then when the staff brought my croissant, they brought a spoon with it. We’d already discussed that I take my coffee black, and I figured the spoon was just by habit, they’d brought it to stir my coffee. But when I tried to pick up the chocolate croissant, and it weighed as much as tiny elephant and refused to leave the plate, I realized what the spoon was for.
The croissant is so fresh and soft and full of chocolate that you eat it like a pudding. So don’t plan to get one and head off walking around. Take time to sit down and savor each spoonful. It has the distinctive flavor of Oaxacan chocolate. With chocolate on the outside and inside, you can get chocolate with every bite. The pastry is tender enough to eat with a spoon but it’s not soggy. It has a crispness on the outside and you still get a deliciously bready buttery croissant feel. It is large. You probably won’t need to get a second one that morning. But your trip in Oaxaca is unfortunately brief, maybe getting a second one is not a bad idea.
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