Tejuino, a drink of the gods that El Champion has consolidated in Mazatlan

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This refreshing drink, for those who don’t know, is made from fermented corn and when you serve it, they serve it with lemon, bicarbonate of soda and lots of ice.

MAZATLAN. – “Don’t tell him, don’t tell him, because maybe they lie to him, that, for tejuinos and fresh barley waters, better with the Champion!”, What Mazatleco doesn’t know this melody? He has toured neighborhoods on adapted motorcycles to bring you this refreshing drink that is even called “drink of the gods”, something like tepache or pulque.

Tejuino is a drink based on fermented corn, piloncillo, lemon, salt and ice. Its process is to let it ferment for several days. Champion says that in cold weather it can be left for up to five days, but in hot weather only three and that it does not exceed its traditional flavor.  

Photo: Fernanda Magallanes

The birth of the Champion 

Juan José Torres Contreras is the name of the founder, he was a lover of tejuino, especially in the hot season, and it was precisely that taste that made him say “I can also make my own tejuino” and he launched himself. He experimented a couple of times to perfect the technique until he succeeded, first for family consumption and later for commercial use.  

“I started 30 years ago, I began to make myself known among people and they themselves told me that I was good, that motivated me and so, I started by myself, for 20 years, walking the streets. 10 years ago I began to add more people, the first was Jorge Luis, hence my children and so on… Currently we are 10 people, “he said.  

“El Champion”, as everyone knows Mazatlan, is a reference when you are looking for one, especially for his song, which, for those who do not know, he wrote it himself and he is the one who narrated it, his voice is what you hear even in the echo of the tallest buildings, it is unmistakable.  

“I say it openly, there is no tejuino that looks like it, or that is compared to it, what has served the Champion’s tejuino is the quality of the person who is here, and if someone asks where to buy tejuino? They always tell him that with the Champion,” she said.  

There are other businesses that sell or used to sell tejuinos, some of which could even be considered older such as Tucán, El Perico, Don Eliseo, which were closed over time or others only sell seasonally and even on demand, but it is the Champion who has kept.  

“We give it a good cooking, so that it is a quality tejuino, that’s why people look for us and here we continue,” he added.  

Although he has been out on the streets selling tejuino for a short time, he does not stop doing it, he wants people to know who the Champion is, where he comes from and who his family is, it is worth knowing who is behind the voice that everyone they listen and that they run to call the “tejuinero”.  

Where does tejuino come from? 

It is a popular drink in cities like Guadalajara, Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima and Michoacán and of course Sinaloa, but its consumption has spread to other states of the republic such as Veracruz and Baja California Sur. 

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at the federal level, tejuino is considered a type of corn-based beer due to the malting process where the grain of corn is germinated with water, germination is interrupted to cook it and hydrolyze most amount of sugars and the resulting malt is fermented.  

Others say that its origin comes from the indigenous communities of the area, and that only the high command drank it, therefore, it is currently considered a “drink of the gods”.  

Source: punto.mx

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