Tequila is a distilled spirit made from the Agave tequilana Weber Blue, blue agave or Agave Azul, and produced only in five areas of Mexico: Jalisco (where 99% is made and home to the town Tequila) as well as Guanajuato, Michoacan, Tamaulipas and Nayarit – these are known as the Denomination of Origin Tequila (DOT) and recognized as such in more than 40 countries.

There are 166 different agave species, 125 of which can be found in Mexico, but only the Weber Blue (named after the German botanist who first classified the species in 1905 due to the slight blue hue of its green foliage) can be used to make Tequila. These plants are particularly suited to the silicate-rich, red volcanic soils in the region around the city of Tequila, with more than 300 million plants harvested there every year.