Previously known as "Alicia ya no vive aquí" (a tribute to Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), the band took its final name from a coffee shop (el Café de Tacuba) located in downtown Mexico City.

Singer Rubén Albarran and guitarist José Alfredo Rangel met while studying graphic design at Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City.

[2] The group began playing music in the garage of a house in their neighborhood, Satélite, an upper-middle-class suburban area in the Naucalpan municipality, of the State of Mexico.

Café Tacvba was principally influenced by alternative rock bands of the 1980s such as The Cure, The Clash, The Smiths, and Violent Femmes.

[1] Café Tacvba went from being a garage band to a concert act in 1989, when they joined the scene surrounding El Hijo del Cuervo, a cultural club in Coyoacán featuring writers and musicians.

The group experimented with many different musical styles, from punk and ska, to electronica and hip hop, to regional Mexican varieties such norteño, bolero, and ranchera.

On the album, collaborators included Luis Conte and Alejandra Flores, while unconventional rock instrumentation such as jarana, guitarrón, melodeon, and drum machines were employed.

The album's mixture of genres such as alternative rock, punk, and metal with traditional Latin American styles helped the group develop a dedicated cult following.

[2] During the promotion of the album, the band's attendance at the 1995 New Music Seminar in New York helped garner some media attention in the United States.

[1] In 1996 Café Tacvba released Avalancha de Éxitos, meaning "Avalanche of Hits", a covers album in which the band performed songs by other Spanish-speaking artists.

In addition, the album titles Revés (which translates to "reverse") and Yo Soy (a palindrome), exemplify the band's eccentricity.

In the meantime, Café Tacvba contributed recordings to various projects such as the Amores Perros (2000) and Y tu mamá también (2002) soundtracks as well as the tribute album El Mas Grande Homenaje a Los Tigres del Norte (2001), which included a cover of "Futurismo y Tradición".

In addition, guitarists Emmanuel del Real Díaz and Joselo Rangel produced a couple songs for Julieta Venegas: "Me Van a Matar" and "Disco Eterno".

Secondly, they wanted to work with a couple choice producers besides Santaolalla and Kerpel; they recruited Dave Fridmann and Andrew Weiss.

In their song "Trópico de Cáncer" (1994), for example, the band references the disaster of San Juan Ixhuatepec, a catastrophic explosion of liquid petroleum gas tanks that killed 500–600 and injured 5000–7000 people on November 19, 1985.

In "Trópico de Cáncer," Café Tacvba calls for a return to indigenous values of nature and community over the industrial capitalism responsible for so much suffering.

This theme is apparent in the chorus of the song: “Por eso yo ya me voy No quiero tener nada que ver Con esa fea relación de acción Construcción, destrucción, ah, ah” as well as other sections such as: “Ay, mis compañeros, petroleros mexicanos No crean que no extraño el olor a óleo puro Pero es que yo pienso que nosotros, los humanos No necesitamos más hidrocarburos” Vocalist and guitar player.

In 2006 he announced his solo debut, Bienvenido al sueño (Welcome to the Dream), it consists of electronic instruments with Buddhist influences and Prehispanic Mexican which he describes as "música protónica por no limitarlo o estereotiparlo" (protonic music so as not to limit or stereotype it).

He is also known as "Juan", "Cosme", "Masiosare", "Anónimo" (Anonymous), "Nrü" (pronunciation given as "Dshiu" in Spanish; perhaps intended to be [dʒy]), "Amparo Tonto Medardo In Lak’ech" or "At Medardo ILK", "G3", "Gallo Gasss" (Gasss Rooster), "Élfego Buendía", "Rita Cantalagua", "Sizu Yantra", "Ixaya Mazatzin Tleyótl", "Ixxi Xoo" and now "Cone Cahuitl".

Del Real has written some of the band's biggest hits such as La Ingrata (The Ingrate), Las Flores (The Flowers), Aviéntame (Throw Me) and Eres (You Are).

Del Real has also produced songs for many Mexican artists like Julieta Venegas, Natalia Lafourcade, Ely Guerra, and Liquits, among others.

José "Joselo" Alfredo Rangel, spent the first 9 years of his life in Minatitlán, Veracruz, until his family moved to Mexico DF where he studied industrial design in the UAM.

They became best friends and with his brother, Enrique "Quique" Rangel and they formed a band called Alicia Ya No Vive Aquí.

Later on he started working on a new project called "Cafe Tacuba" with Ruben Albarran on the vocals, Enrique "Quique" Rangel on the bass (contrabajo) and Roberto Silva on the keyboards.

He abandoned his career as a designer when he brought the band De Real in the late 80s and they changed their name to Café Tacvba.

The song "Chilanga Banda" has a hip-hop beat under a stream of Mexico City slang originally written by Jaime López, "María" is a 'bolero' ballad about a ghost, "El Fin de la Infancia" a brass-heavy 'banda ranchera' sound that reflects the influence of 'banda sinaloense', "Desperté" has a tango-driven melody while "El Borrego" mocks speed metal.