Big Splash: How Topo Chico Went From a Taste of Mexico to a Texas Cult Favorite

The year was 1981, the place Pennsylvania.As a young Mexican exchange student, Gerardo Galván wanted to treat his American host family to an exotic delicacy from his homeland.So he made them guacamole.“Now avocados are everywhere, and I’m not trying to compare us with that, but this ...”He paused to tap a fingernail on the 12-ounce glass bottle from which he’d been sipping.“This is a big brand. It’s going to be huge. And it’s just a matter of time.”Galván -- whose quiet, deliberate speech belies global ambitions -- has spent the last decade building a kind of accidental cult around the gentle fizz and clean flavor of a Mexican mineral water called Topo Chico.  Continue reading...