Ca'n Joan de s'Aigo

In the early 18th century, a man Palma knew as Joan de s'Aigo organised crews to climb the Serra de Tramuntana, gather snow and store it in the cases de neu, pits dug into the mountain where it kept until summer. Mixing the meltwater from that snow with fruit juice gave rise to the forerunner of ice cream, and to this house, which counts itself among the first chocolate houses in Europe. Its first true ice cream was almond, still its signature; hot chocolate and ensaïmadas followed soon after.

This is the second branch, opened in 1990 on Carrer del Baró de Santa Maria del Sepulcre, just off Avinguda Jaume III; the historic original, where the first mill used for the almond ice cream is still kept, is on Carrer de Can Sanç. The menu is the classic one: thick drinking chocolate, ensaïmadas plain or filled — angel-hair squash jam, custard, cream, or tajada, with sobrassada and pumpkin — handmade almond ice cream, cuartos (the light, airy Mallorcan sponge), cremadillos (cream-filled buns) and coca de patata (potato bun). In summer, almond horchata.

Having a hot chocolate with an ensaïmada here, or an ensaïmada topped with a scoop of almond ice cream, is a city habit that goes back generations: people in Palma still come for chocolate after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and for ice cream after Corpus Christi. More than a café, it's the Mallorcan afternoon treat in its most classic form.

Reviewed in November 2026