Tequila vs Mezcal: What Actually Makes Them Different

By the Mayan Jungle Rush team · Published November 2026 · 6 min read

Tequila and mezcal are both Mexican spirits distilled from agave, but they are not the same drink. Tequila can only be made from one plant, blue Weber agave, in a defined area of five Mexican states, and its agave is usually cooked in above-ground ovens or steam autoclaves. Mezcal can be made from many agave species in a different, larger set of states, and traditional mezcal is roasted in underground pits, which gives it its famous smoky flavor.

A simple way to remember it: tequila means one agave, one defined region and mostly steam cooking; mezcal means many agaves, other regions and, traditionally, smoke. Both are protected by a Mexican Denomination of Origin and an official standard, or NOM. Here is what that means for the bottle in your hand.

Which agave is used for tequila and mezcal?

Tequila must be made from Agave tequilana Weber, blue variety, usually called blue agave or blue Weber agave. No other agave is allowed. The plant takes several years to mature before harvest; spirits education materials put it at roughly six to ten years depending on the region.

Mezcal can be made from many agave species. The most widely used is espadín (Agave angustifolia), which accounts for the large majority of mezcal production, but you will also see bottles made from wild or semi-wild agaves such as tobalá or tepextate, and blends of several species called ensambles.

In the field, agaves are harvested by jimadores, skilled farmers who cut away the leaves to leave the heart of the plant, the piña. A piña can weigh up to about 150 pounds.

Where are tequila and mezcal made?

Tequila has a Denomination of Origin covering 181 municipalities in five states, according to Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT):

• Jalisco (the whole state, including the town of Tequila near Guadalajara and the Los Altos highlands)
• Selected municipalities in Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas

Mezcal has its own Denomination of Origin, first established in the mid-1990s for Oaxaca, Guerrero, Durango, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas. It has since been extended to all or parts of other states, including Guanajuato, Tamaulipas, Michoacán and Puebla. Later extensions have been challenged in court, so the exact map has shifted over time. Oaxaca is the historic heartland and makes the large majority of certified mezcal.

Neither denomination includes Quintana Roo or Yucatán. Every bottle of tequila or mezcal you buy in Cancún was made far from here and shipped to the peninsula. The Yucatán has its own agave history, though: from the 1830s onward, large areas of the state were planted with henequen, an agave grown for its fiber rather than for drinking.

How is tequila made compared with mezcal?

Both start the same way: the piñas are cooked to turn the agave's stored carbohydrates into fermentable sugars, then crushed, fermented and distilled. The big difference is the cooking.

Tequila: ovens and autoclaves

Tequila producers cook the piñas in above-ground masonry ovens (hornos) with steam, or in autoclaves, large stainless-steel pressure cookers that are faster and handle bigger batches. Some traditional producers then crush the cooked agave with a tahona, a large wheel of volcanic stone. Because the agave is steamed rather than smoked, tequila shows the flavor of the cooked agave itself, from sweet and floral to earthy and peppery depending on where it was grown, without the campfire note.

Mezcal: the earthen pit

Traditional mezcal is roasted in a conical pit dug into the ground, lined with hot stones heated by a wood fire, covered with agave fiber, and sealed with earth for several days. The smoke from the embers is what gives mezcal its smoky character. Mexico's mezcal standard (NOM-070) recognizes three production categories:

• Mezcal ancestral: cooked in earthen pits, crushed by hand or with a stone wheel, and distilled over direct fire in clay pots.
• Mezcal artesanal: cooked in pits or masonry ovens and distilled in copper or clay pot stills over direct fire.
• Mezcal: the broadest category, which allows industrial methods such as autoclaves and column stills.

So not every mezcal is equally smoky, but the general rule holds: pit roasting means smoke.

What do blanco, reposado and añejo mean?

Tequila's official categories describe how long it has aged in oak:

• Blanco (silver, plata): unaged, or rested for less than two months.
• Joven or oro (gold): usually blanco with permitted additives such as caramel color, or a blend of blanco with aged tequila.
• Reposado ("rested"): aged at least two months and less than a year in oak.
• Añejo ("aged"): aged at least one year in oak barrels of no more than 600 liters.
• Extra añejo: aged at least three years in oak. This category was created in 2006.

You will also see cristalino, an aged tequila filtered to remove its color. Mezcal labels use similar words such as joven, reposado and añejo.

What does "100% agave" mean on a tequila label?

This is the most useful thing to check when you buy tequila.

• Tequila 100% de agave: all the sugars come from blue agave. It must be bottled in Mexico, inside the Denomination of Origin.
• Tequila (often called mixto): at least 51% of the sugars come from blue agave, and the rest can come from other sources such as cane sugar. It can be shipped in bulk and bottled elsewhere.

If the label does not say "100% agave," assume it is a mixto. Every genuine tequila also carries a NOM number, which identifies the company or distillery that made it. Mezcal is different: under its standard, all mezcal must be made from 100% agave.

Is there really a worm in tequila?

No. Tequila regulations do not allow a worm or a scorpion in the bottle. The "worm" you may have seen is a moth larva that shows up in some bottles of mezcal, mostly as a marketing gimmick rather than a tradition. If you see a worm in a bottle labeled tequila, something is off.

How do you taste tequila or mezcal properly?

Good agave spirits are meant to be sipped, not shot with salt and lime. A simple way to taste:

1. Pour a small amount into a narrow glass, at room temperature.
2. Look at the color. Blanco should be clear; reposado and añejo pick up gold to amber tones from the oak.
3. Smell gently, with your mouth slightly open, so the alcohol doesn't overwhelm you. Look for cooked agave, citrus, pepper, vanilla or smoke.
4. Take a small sip and let it coat your tongue before swallowing.
5. Go from youngest to oldest if you taste several, and drink water in between.

A blanco tastes most like the agave itself. Reposado and añejo add vanilla, caramel and wood. With mezcal, notice how the smoke changes from one agave to the next.

Taste tequila near Cancún

A tequila tasting is included at the end of most of our tours on the Ruta de los Cenotes, once the driving is done (there is no alcohol before driving the ATVs). It is a relaxed way to try what you just read about. See the ATV, Ziplines, Cenote & Tequila tour or compare all our tours.

If you want to bring a bottle home, look for "100% agave" and a NOM number, and buy from a reputable shop. For more ideas, see our guide to authentic souvenirs from Cancún, and if you want a local spirit from the Yucatán itself, read about Xtabentún, the Maya honey and anise liqueur.

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