Try This Tommy's Margarita Recipe for Cinco de Mayo
Ahead of Cinco de Mayo on Thursday, I reached out to Ray Heng of Pebbles Courtyard to find out more about tequila and to get his recipe for an entirely different margarita. I myself am a big tequila fan, but have numerous friends who won’t touch it. Heng, who owns what's perhaps the largest agave spirits collection in China, wants to help give tequila’s reputation an overhaul and show people what good tequila actually tastes like.
The first thing I learned was that Cinco de Mayo is not actually an official holiday all across Mexico, but rather only in the state of Puebla, and it's essentially been appropriated as a massive celebration of Mexican-American culture in the US. As a Brit, I had my first experience of celebrating Cinco de Mayo when I moved to Beijing. So even though I had no idea about the holiday before, I’m always happy for any excuse to eat lots of Mexican food and drink some margaritas!
What is your tequila of choice and why?A
My tequila of choice isn’t in China right now. I like tequila from producers that use traditional methods for making tequila, which goes all the way down to choosing the right raw material. When I’m looking to choose a tequila, I ask myself:
Are the agaves fully ripened? This gives a higher brix (sugar) level which is very, very important! If you choose an underaged/raw agave, no matter how good the process is, it won’t churn out good tequila.
1. How are they cooking the agaves: high pressure, low pressure? For how long?
2. How is the juice being extracted – tahona-milled, rollermilled, etc.?
3. How is it being fermented – using commercial yeast, homegrown yeast, or natural yeast? With or without fibers?
4. How is it being distilled and at what volume?
5. How are the blanco tequilas being bottled – rested or not rested?
6. How is the tequila being aged? What barrels are they using for aging and how long is it aging?
So, in short, I’m quite picky about my tequila, and my favorite distilleries are much smaller than scotch or bourbon distilleries. You could almost consider them to be “boutique distilleries.” Therefore, all my favorite brands are non-existent in China, which is why I registered my own importing company, where I can talk directly to small batch/family-run tequila brands.
The most recent brand I’ve connected with only produces a few thousand liters in each batch, which means I can only get my hands on a few cases because the rest will go to the US.
What’s the difference between tequila and 100 percent agave tequila?A
There are two types of tequilas: One is called tequila, with the unofficial term being mixto tequila, which only contains 51 percent agave juice. The other 49 percent can be made from any other sugar, and most of the time this will be cane sugar.
100 percent agave tequila, on the other hand, as the name suggests, is made from 100 percent fermented agave juice. However, as good as it sounds, it’s getting pretty tricky these days to find it. Sometimes I may even choose a well-made mixto tequila instead of a badly made 100 percent agave tequila.Q
And why would you choose a mixto tequila?A
Well, there are a few industrial 100 percent agave tequila brands using a method called “diffuser.” For this method, you don’t need matured agaves at all, because you don’t need to cook the agave. Instead, the diffuser uses chemicals to turn the starch content into sugars to ferment.
These companies actually only use underaged agaves, which is really bad for the ecosystem, so you should stay away from diffuser-made tequila! Annoyingly, these tequilas are not labelled as diffuser-made tequilas, because the corporate giants who make them pay to keep it off the label. This is one of the reasons why I started doing agave spirit tastings and culture classes to train people about all the misconceptions and stereotypes of bad tequilas!Q
Do you have any recommendations for the best places to buy tequila in Beijing?A
I hate to self-promote, but there really isn’t a shop just for agave spirits in Beijing other than Pebbles. You may find the occasional good tequila in some spirits stores, but they normally have a very limited selection and none of them just do agave spirits.
At Pebbles, on the other hand, we offer agave spirits to-go at retail prices and have over 200 bottles to choose from: tequilas, mezcals, raicillas, and other agave spirits. To open a tequila shop is my future goal!Q
Where do you go in Beijing for your favorite margarita (aside from Pebbles)?A
has a really great agave spirits selection. In fact, my company, TequilaRay, provides them with some of our mezcals as well.
If you find Rodrigo at , he can also make you some great margaritas using proper agave spirits. Eric over at often buys our mezcals whenever we get some new ones in, so he does great agave-based cocktails too!
This is a
very simple recipe, but it's a great test for a good agave spirit
because the lime juice and the nectar just act as the supporting cast,
with the spirit shining through as the main star.
Ingredients
60ml top-quality agave spirit
30ml lime juice
15ml agave nectar*
Salt
Method
Combine all ingredients (except the salt) in a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake vigorously for at least 15 seconds.
Strain into a chilled glass with salt rim. We use Sal de Gusano (worm salt from Oaxaca) to enhance the flavors.
* Agave
nectar can be purchased on Taobao (just search 龙舌兰花蜜 lóngshélán huāmì).
If you're in a pinch, you can substitute 20ml of simple syrup instead.
Pebbles Courtyard
74 Wudaoying Hutong, Dongcheng District
东城区五道营胡同74号
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Images: Ray Heng
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