Caravanserai is a tea salon at Orizaba 101, Roma Norte, open every day from ten in the morning to nine at night. Its site opens with the line that a journey begins in a cup of tea, and the menu reads like a Paris salon transplanted: a page of matcha drinks made with Japanese ceremonial matcha, rustic baguettes with ham and manchego or smoked bacon and honey, a matcha yoghurt with homemade compote, and pastries the menu says are mostly French, tarte tatin, tarte alsacienne, marquise au chocolat, fondant au chocolat.
The bulk shop lists 85 products and prices every one of them by the 100 g, which makes comparing easy. Pure teas sit at the top: Assam, Ceylan O.P, Strong Breakfast and a Lapsang Souchong Crocodile at MX$ 540, Darjeeling at MX$ 560, Earl Grey at MX$ 340; Long Jing at MX$ 590, Bi Luo Chun at MX$ 690, Gyokuro at MX$ 840; Tie Kuan Yin at MX$ 640, My Milk Oolong at MX$ 560 and a Gran Túnica Roja at MX$ 690; Pai mu dan at MX$ 420, Cejas de Plata at MX$ 640 and a Silver Needle at MX$ 720.
Below the pure teas come the house blends, named like stops on a caravan route, Sherezade, Invierno en Samarkand, Astrid en el Harem, Mujer Acechada, Laika Sputnik, Thé des Mille Collines, and a chai line that is the cheapest thing on the wall: Lemongrass, Jengibre and Cardamomo Chai at MX$ 190, Chai Verde at MX$ 340, Pumpkin Chai at MX$ 390. Rooibos Natural is MX$ 330 and a Lavanda Manzanilla tisane MX$ 390. The same shop sells teapots, gift bags and tins, and the site has a wholesale form for cafés, hotels and shops.