Learn About Tequila
An educational guide to tequila's history, agave, production, classifications, authenticity, and tasting — based on official sources from the Consejo Regulador del Tequila and Mexico's tequila standard.
Educational content summarized from official Consejo Regulador del Tequila materials and NOM-006-SCFI-2012. Agave Atlas is an independent platform and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the CRT.
Six modules
Short, structured chapters. Read them in order or jump to what you need.
- Module 1
What Tequila Is
Tequila is a protected regional distilled spirit made from a single plant — the blue Weber agave — grown and produced inside a defined Mexican territory.
4 min readOpen module → - Module 2
Categories and Classes
Under NOM-006, every tequila belongs to one of two categories and one of five official classes. These are separate axes — don't confuse them.
6 min readOpen module → - Module 3
The Blue Agave
Everything about tequila begins with one plant, one variety, and one particular part of it — the piña.
5 min readOpen module → - Module 4
How Tequila Is Made
From harvested piña to bottled spirit — a step-by-step walk through the eight stages defined by NOM-006 and taught in the CRT's production module.
8 min readOpen module → - Module 5
History and Cultural Context
A concise timeline of tequila — from pre-Hispanic uses of agave through the modern regulatory framework — with mythology clearly labeled as mythology.
10 min readOpen module → - Module 6
How to Taste Tequila
A structured way to evaluate any tequila, based on the CRT tasting guide — appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and finish.
7 min readOpen module →
The production flow, at a glance
- Blue agave
- Jima
- Cooking / hydrolysis
- Extraction
- Fermentation
- Distillation
- Maturation
- Bottling
Summarized from NOM-006-SCFI-2012 and CRT Módulo IV. See How Tequila Is Made for the full walkthrough.
Sources & attribution
Every claim on these pages traces back to CRT educational materials or the Official Mexican Standard NOM-006-SCFI-2012.