Why do you drink tequila with salt and lemon?

What is tequila

• tequila - pronounced "Tekihla", with the emphasis on the "i", is a brandy made from agave. It owes its name to the city of Tequila, which is located in Mexico, more precisely: in the state of Jalisco. But it is also produced in four other Mexican states.
• The heart of the blue agave, the agave tequilana Weber, is used to extract the fire. It is called "House of the Moon" by the Mexicans. In the Indian language it is called mezcal.
• The alcohol content is between thirty-eight and forty percent. There is also higher proof tequila that is fifty percent alcohol by volume.

Why you should drink the agave brandy with salt and lemon

• If the tequila is young and not yet ripe, it is drunk with lemon or lime and with salt. Depending on the taste, more or less salt and lemon juice are enjoyed. There is a little ritual that you can drink in proper style: First you lick a few grains of salt from your hand, then you tip the tequila and finally you bite the lemon. The purpose is to neutralize the taste of the tequila.
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• Another variant that one experiences a lot in restaurants, with the same goal of taste neutralization, is it is to drink the tequila with a glass full of Sangrita, as well as a glass with lemon or Lime juice. So the restaurant guest has three glasses in front of him. He starts with the lime juice, then he tips the agave brandy and finally he enjoys the Sangrita. This order is called "bandera" (= flag) because these colors (green, white, red) repeat the colors of the flag of Mexico.


Drinking tequila - there are these secret rules

There are a variety of different tequilas and at least as many rumors ...

• Only the matured tequila is not drunk with lemon juice and salt. It is too noble for that and its production is far too expensive. Before an agave can be harvested for the purpose of producing agave brandy, it must have grown for eight to nine years.