AGAVE

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Tequila is made of one specific type of the agave plant: the Agave Tequilana Weber, blue variety. There are many different varieties of the agave plant in Mexico. Religion Tequila is made only from the BLUE AGAVE. Other varieties are used to produce regional drinks such as mescal and variations.

Harvesting is pretty much the same for all three styles. Workers, known as "jimadores," select ripened agave plants, then, using an extremely sharp instrument called a "coa," strip away the spiky leaves until all that's left is something resembling a very large pineapple ("piña") weighing upward of 100 pounds. Tractors are used (and sometimes burros) to haul the crop to trucks for transport to the distillery.