While attending navigation school in Harlingen, Texas, my husband and his friends would venture across the border into Matamoras, Mexico, to purchase cheap tequila. At 90 cents a bottle, it was a bargain. The only problem was its taste, which he describes as similar to aviation gasoline.

A recent trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, provided me with the opportunity to visit the town of Tequila and the Jose Cuervo facility. Just 35 miles from the city, it was an education into the growth and processing of the blue agave. Seated at the Cuervo tasting table with a gathering of tequila experts, I found that through a process of evolution and control, cheap rotgut tequila from across the border has morphed into a product not only respectable but also downright upmarket. Buyers now are looking for the crème de la crème and they are willing to pay for it. A bottle of super premium 100 percent blue agave tequila can cost up to three figures.

Just what is tequila? Many myths and misconceptions exist, and the first is that tequila and mescal are the same. Although tequila is a type of mescal, mescal is not tequila. Both are derived from varieties of the plant known to natives as mexcalmetlor agave, but they are as different as gin and vodka. Tequila is made only from the agave tequilana Weber, the blue variety, while mescal can be made from five different varieties of agave. Most mescal is produced from green agave in and around the city of Oaxaca. By Mexican law, tequila only may be produced in five Mexican states, although at present only two makers exist outside the state of Jalisco.

Tequila is double distilled with some brands boasting triple distilling. Mescal is usually distilled only once. Both use the heart of the agave, or the piña or pineapple. This sugar rich, fibrous center is steamed or baked in ovens or autoclaves for tequila. The piñas for mescal are roasted in a conical, rock lined pit over charcoal and covered with palm fiber mats and earth, which gives them a rich smoky flavor.

What about that worm? Mexican bottled tequilas never include the worm, although occasional American bottled brands include one to impress gringos. Some types of mescal include a gusano, the larva of the butterfly Hipopta Agavis. Not traditional, the practice began in the 1940s as a marketing ploy. Two types of gusano may be used: the red, which is considered superior and lives in the root and heart of the agave and the white or gold, which lives on the leaves. And yes, you're supposed to consume the worm. They're commonly eaten as food and found in Zapotec markets, although claims of their psychotropic properties are totally without foundation.

Further confusing the issue is pulque and its relatives, which were the precursors of tequila and mescal. Known to the Aztecs as far back as 1200 A.D., it was a priestly drink made from the fermented sap or aguamiel of the agave. It's still manufactured in rural areas and usually is sold as home brew at small pulquerias. Like beer, pulque has a low alcohol content and is fermented not distilled.

It is said that tequila is Mexico, that its essence captures the soul of the people. Poetic as it seems, this is close to the truth. In Artes de Mexico's "Guía del Tequila," they say, "Tequila is derived from a plant that indelibly marks the Mexican countryside: the blue agave. It is a distillation of tradition: to drink it is to absorb stories and to be initiated into a world of legends."

Perhaps the best introduction into this world is to visit the town of Tequila and the Jose Cuervo plant. If you plan your visit on a Saturday, you can take the "Tequila Express," a Ferrocarril Mexicano tourist train from Guadalajara. (For information on how you can take the Tequila Express from the United States call 01 (33) 3880 9099 call or visit their Web site at www.tequilaexpress.com.mx.) If you prefer to go by car, it is a short, pleasant drive through the countryside once you emerge from the congestion of Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city.

You know you are approaching Tequila as the hills become smoky blue with more than 100 million blue agaves planted in spiky rows. Turning into town, you are greeted at a prime intersection by a large fountain with a statue of a jimador or agave worker, coa in hand, astride casks of tequila. Cuervo is located on a narrow street with the distillery and offices lining one side, and the familial hacienda and Tequila Museum on the other. After you pick up your guide at the office, she takes you to the fields where you are offered a welcome libation.

Refreshed, you are instructed in the cultivation of the blue agave, which needs clay rich soil, overcast skies 70 to 100 days per year, a semiarid climate with a stable temperature of approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and an elevation of 5,000 feet above sea level in order to thrive. During the yearly rainy season, the agave puts out sprouts or babies, which are removed from the mother plant and planted in freshly tilled land. It takes seven to 10 years for a plant to mature, with growing cycles varying from area to area.

The worker responsible for the care and harvesting of the agave is the jimador. In the Cuervo fields he is introduced and his role explained. He prunes immature plant leaves with his machete, leaving only those encircling the heart. At harvest time, he employs the coa, a long handled tool similar to a hoe, which is used to cut off the remaining leaves and sever the underground stem. The heart or piña is then hefted on the head of a loader for transfer to a vehicle, which carries it to the distillery ovens. Piñas can weight up to 300 lbs.

From the fields you journey to La Rojeña, the Cuervo distillery. Founded in 1795 by José Maria Guadalupe Cuervo, its license to commercially produce tequila was granted by the King of Spain. You tour the area where the piñas are unloaded and placed into ovens or autoclaves, which transform the agave starches into sugars.

The cooked piñas are sent to crushing mills, which separate the juice or must from the fiber. The resulting liquid is sluiced into fermenting tanks, which convert the sugars into ethyl alcohol. The alcohol then passes into stills, where it is heated to a high temperature. This causes the fluid to evaporate and condense back into a liquid. Impurities still remain so it must be distilled again. The result is blanco or white tequila.

If blanco is the "base tequila," how are the other varieties created? There are three styles: blanco, reposado, and añejo. Blanco is clear and results from a second distillation. Reposado or "rested" tequila is stored in oak barrels for at least two months. It has a darker hue and a smoother taste than blanco. Añejo or aged tequila is matured for at least a year in oak and has a mellow woody taste.

Mixto tequilas have a proportion of other than blue agave sugars added during the manufacturing process. If the label doesn't specify "100 percent blue agave," the tequila is a mixto. Many types of tequila manufactured in the United States are mixtos with varying proportions of blue agave, but if you buy tequila bottled in Mexico, you can be assured it contains at least 60 percent blue agave by law.

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