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tejate

dish / dish-tejate

テハテ

Tejate is a frothy beverage of corn and cacao from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico (the Zapotec region), that has been consumed in both ritual settings and everyday labor.

On this page (5 sections)
  1. Overview
  2. Sources for this overview (1)
  3. Related entries (5)
  4. Composition and content (1)
  5. Culture (1)
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Reading the bitterness

Tejate is a beverage from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico, made mainly from corn and cacao and served with a raised foam. The source describes it as a ceremonial drink in the Zapotec region that has also held a role close to a staple food during periods of intense fieldwork.

The samples analyzed include tejate from three communities in Oaxaca, urban markets, and immigrant vendors in California. According to the abstract, tejate is a source of energy, fat, methylxanthines, potassium, iron and other minerals, and its protein is comparable to an equal serving of tortillas. However, because nutritional and chemical composition varies from recipe to recipe, it cannot be expressed as a single value.

Sources for this overview

  1. Chemical and nutritional composition of tejate, a traditional maize and cacao beverage from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico

    Sotelo A; Soleri D; Wacher C; Sánchez-Chinchillas A; Argote RM / 2012 / journal article / abstract checked

    Checked for this overview: Matched to the ceremonial importance in the Zapotec region and the staple-food-like role during periods of fieldwork. / Matched the samples analyzed (three communities, etc.), the nutrients it supplies, protein comparable to tortillas, and variation among recipes, within the abstract.

Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits

Composition and content (1)

tejate contains Made mainly from corn and cacao and served with a raised foam. A source of methylxanthines, energy, lipids, K, and Fesupported

Scope: Analysis of samples collected from 3 communities in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, urban markets, and immigrant vendors in the United States

Note: The abstract does not give individual quantitative values for methylxanthines. Connection to cacao-related entities (compound-theobromine, etc.) is left for after a future full-text check. (2026-10-22: the supporting source was lowered to abstract level. The claim is supported by the abstract, so its status is unchanged.)

Analyzed tejate from 3 Central Valley communities in Oaxaca, vendors in Oaxaca markets, and 1 migrant vendor in California for proximate composition, amino acids, minerals and methylxanthines. Nutritional and chemical composition varies among recipes, but the beverage is a source of energy, fat, methylxanthines, K, Fe and other minerals. Its protein is comparable to an equal serving of tortillas.
Limitations: The abstract explicitly states that mineral availability affected by phytates remains to be determined. The abstract gives no composition values (the values in the body were read on 2026-09-01 in an unofficial copy, but its origin could not be confirmed, so this was lowered to abstract level on 10/22).
Source: Chemical and nutritional composition of tejate, a traditional maize and cacao beverage from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico (Sotelo A; Soleri D; Wacher C; Sánchez-Chinchillas A; Argote RM, 2012) · abstract checked
Show datadish-tejate —contains→ (the claim sentence above)
claim: clm-tejate-composition / type: composition / updated: 2026-10-22

Culture (1)

tejate — cultural role: A ceremonial beverage in the Zapotec region that has also held a staple-food-like place during periods of intense fieldwork. Part of a lineage of foam-topped cacao-and-corn beverages with a long history in Mesoamericacontextual

Scope: The Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico

The source notes that foam-topped cacao and maize beverages have a long history in Mesoamerica, and that tejate has historically been ceremonially important and also an essential staple, especially during periods of hard fieldwork.
Source: Chemical and nutritional composition of tejate, a traditional maize and cacao beverage from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico (Sotelo A; Soleri D; Wacher C; Sánchez-Chinchillas A; Argote RM, 2012) · abstract checked
Show datadish-tejate —has_cultural_role_of→ (the claim sentence above)
claim: clm-tejate-cultural / type: cultural / updated: 2026-08-31

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