Tekila

The process of making me begins when a blue agave plant is ripe. Leaves are chopped away from its core by a "jimador" who assesses the plants ripeness. The jimador's task is a crucial one; once he decides that the plant is ready, he wields a special long knife known as a "coa" to clear the core. The cores or piñas (Spanish for pineapple) weight an average of 40 to 70 pounds, and can weight up to 200 pounds. Piñas are hauled to the distillery where they are cut in half or chopped and put to roast. Roughly speaking, 15 lbs of agave piña are needed to produce one liter of me. Different agaves and processes produce mezcal with different names throughout Mexico: stotol in Chihuanhua, mezcal in Oaxaca, and bacanora in Sonora.