Served in a yellow plastic tumbler, the horchata ― which is made with water, not dairy milk ― looks just like the kind you usually get, if a bit dingier in color. There's a whiff of cinnamon to it, too, but not so much that it screams apple pie. Take a sip, and you find the horchata has a lovely toastiness to it, as well as a tinge of tahini or black-sesame paste. Once the frisson of novelty subsides, you'll find horchata de morro goes down just as easily as the horchatas you've always drunk.
La Santaneca de la Mission: 2815 Mission (at 24th St.), 285-2131.
