🥃 Jimador
The worker who harvests agave for tequila and mezcal by hand: with a coa tool he cuts the plant from its root and trims the leaves down to the piña; this stage is called the jima.
A jimador is a worker who harvests agave by hand for tequila and mezcal. He decides which plant is ripe, cuts it from the root and, with a sharp coa tool, trims the leaves down to the core, called the piña. The Mexican standard for tequila calls this stage the jima.
The jima under the standard. The NOM-006-SCFI-2012 standard defines the jima as separating the plant from the soil with a transverse cut near the base and trimming the leaves to obtain the piña, the stem with the leaf bases. It is the first stage of tequila production, followed by baking, fermentation and distillation. Only blue agave from the appellation territory is allowed for tequila.
Tool and craft. The coa is a long wooden handle with a sharp round blade. According to Tequila.net, blue agave takes 8–12 years to mature; when it sends up a flower stalk, the jimador cuts it off so that sugars build up in the core. A piña can weigh up to 68 kg, and an experienced jimador can process one in less than a minute.
Work in the field. The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation writes that machines have still not replaced jimadores, and skills are often passed from parents to children. Work usually starts around six in the morning to finish before the heat; a crew of six or seven fills a 20-tonne truck in about four hours. The industry faces a shortage of jimadores.
Why this matters to you. The jimador’s work decides how ripe and cleanly trimmed the agave is, and therefore how much sugar reaches the wort. However, hand labour does not make tequila or mezcal less strong: it is 35–55% alc. vol. The WHO reminds us: there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
Facts
| Legal basis | NOM-006-SCFI-2012, item 4.20: the jima is the first stage of tequila production |
|---|---|
| Raw material | piña (core) of blue agave Agave tequilana Weber for tequila |
How it connects to Spirits
🥃 Jimador → kind of → 🌵 Agave: tequila and mezcal → kind of → 🥃 Spirits
Links
- Next step
- 🥃 Blue agave, 🌵 Tequila, 🥃 Horno
- Previous step
- 🥃 Tahona
- What it affects
- 🍷 Alcohol and health
- Related to
- 🌵 Mezcal, 🥃 Paisaje Agavero
- Images and sayings
- 🥃 Tequila (town)
- Part of
- 🌵 Agave: tequila and mezcal
- Similar and different
- 🥃 Jalisco, 🥃 Jalisco, 🥃 Los Altos de Jalisco, 🥃 Los Altos de Jalisco
Frequently asked questions
Is it true that agave for tequila is harvested by machines?
No. The jima is still done by hand: the jimador cuts the plant from its root and trims the leaves with a coa, and machines have not yet replaced this work.
What is the jima?
Under NOM-006-SCFI-2012 it is separating the agave from the soil with a transverse cut near the base and trimming the leaves down to the piña; the first stage of tequila production.
What is a coa?
The jimador’s tool: a long wooden handle with a sharp round blade used to trim agave leaves.
How many years does agave grow before harvest?
According to Tequila.net, blue agave matures in 8–12 years; the jimador decides when the plant is ready.
How much does a piña weigh?
According to Tequila.net, up to 150 pounds, which is about 68 kg.
What to read next
- 🍷 Alcohol and health — Alcohol in any drink is harmful in large amounts, and the risks grow with the quantity.
- 🥃 Jalisco — Western Mexican state where the town of Tequila lies: all 125 of its municipalities fall within the “Tequila” appellation of origin, together with parts of four other states.
- 🥃 Los Altos de Jalisco — Highland region in eastern Jalisco around Arandas: red iron-rich soils, about 2,000 m above sea level; about 70% of the blue agave for tequila is grown here.
- 🥃 Paisaje Agavero — UNESCO cultural landscape (2006) in Jalisco, Mexico: 34,658 hectares of blue agave fields, the towns of Tequila, Amatitán and El Arenal, and their old distilleries.
- 🥃 Tahona — Tahona is a volcanic stone wheel in a pit that slowly crushes roasted agave hearts and presses out the juice for tequila or mezcal.
Sources
- NOM-006-SCFI-2012, Alcoholic Beverages — Tequila — Specifications (English text, CRT): 4.2 only Agave tequilana Weber blue variety from the Declaration territory; 4.20 'jima' — cutting the plant from the soil and trimming the leaves to obtain the 'piña'; stages jima, hydrolysis, extraction, formulation (51 % agave sugars), fermentation, distillation; Table 1 — 35–55 % alc. vol.
- Tequila.net: What is a Jimador? — harvester who decides when each agave is ready; coa with long wooden handle and circular blade; quiote cut, plant ready c. 2–3 months later; maturity 8–12 years; piñas up to 150 lb; several hundred piñas a day
- Tales of the Cocktail Foundation: Jimadores, the unsung heroes of tequila — harvest by hand with the coa, no machine can do the work, skill passed from generation to generation, work from c. 6 a.m., team of six or seven fills a 20-ton truck in about four hours, shortage of jimadores
- Consejo Regulador del Tequila: Appellation of Origin — General Declaration of Protection published in the Official Gazette 9.12.1974; territory of 181 municipalities in Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Nayarit and Tamaulipas; only blue agave (Agave tequilana Weber)
- WHO/Europe: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health (04.01.2023)