This August, Jarritos officially turns 70 years old! While we may be old enough to qualify for the senior discount, our sense of fun and flavor hasn’t faded over time. We’re just as passionate about bottling the bold flavors and vivid colors of Mexico as our founder was when he started Jarritos all those decades ago,
In honor of our upcoming birthday, we’re sharing five of our favorite historic Jarritos facts.
Jarritos was founded on August 29, 1950.
70 years ago, our founder Don Francisco “El Guero” Hill started Jarritos from his own home kitchen in Mexico City. An accomplished chemist, Hill was known for leaving beakers, journals and other equipment all over the house. We’d say this particular experiment went very well, indeed!
The first Jarritos flavor was — wait for it — coffee.
Yes, coffee! But it didn’t take long for Francisco Hill to discover that citrusy, fruity flavors and bright, eye-catching colors were the key to Jarritos’ popularity. He switched gears, and by 1960, Jarritos had become the most popular beverage in the entire country of Mexico! (Now that’s what we call a success story.)
The Jarritos lineup continued to grow over the years, and today we make 13 different quintessentially Mexican flavors, including Tamarind, Jamaica, Guava and Mango. One thing that hasn’t changed since 1950 is that we still use all-natural fruit flavors and real cane sugar to flavor our sodas.
Jarritos didn’t come to the US until 1997.
Believe it or not, Jarritos has only been sold north of the border for about 23 years. Today, we’re sold in over half of major supermarkets in America, and 1,500 bottles of Jarritos are exported every minute!
Our name means “little jugs” in Spanish.
It’s a reference to the small clay jugs that people in Mexico have used to hold their fruity aguas frescas since ancient times. The jugs tended to be orangey-brown on the bottom and glazed green on the top. Today, the little jugs are part of the Jarritos logo, and the colors correspond to two of our most popular flavors: Mandarin and Lime.
Jarritos is the official beverage of tacos.
That’s right — there’s officially no better beverage to pair up with your tacos than Jarritos. Scan our recipes page to find a collection of our favorite authentic Mexican taco recipes and the best Jarritos flavors to pair them with.
Remember to raise your favorite flavor of Jarritos on August 29 to say ¡Salud! to Mexico’s favorite soda!