Tepeztate: a broad agave with wavy leaves

Tepeztate’s broad, twisting leaves spread outward in an open rosette, with wavy edges and stout teeth. Its botanical name is Agave marmorata. In Oaxaca, it supplies Tepeztate or Tepextate mezcal. Its native range also reaches southern Puebla, where people collect aguamiel—the sweet liquid tapped from a living agave—bake its stem and cook its flowers. 1 2 3 14

Tepeztate can take decades to reach harvest maturity. Around Miahuatlán, makers cut plants from rocky slopes and carry the piñas, or agave hearts, to the palenque—the mezcal distillery. There, they cook the hearts and make small batches of mezcal. In Puebla, the same species has a long history as pichomel or pitzomel, used for pulque—the drink made by fermenting aguamiel—food and living fences. 4 14

Broad leaves, deep channels and wavy edges

An intact Tepeztate usually has no obvious trunk. Wide leaves spread in several directions, often twisting or folding near the tip. The blades are rough to the touch, with fleshy scallops beneath the dark teeth and a short, sturdy spine at the leaf’s tip. Some leaves carry pale, waxy cross-bands; others look more evenly gray-green. 2

A. marmorata · leafy rosette
The illustrated plant is 1.5 m high and about 2.22 m across.

Person: 1.7 m. Bar: 1 m.

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Tepeztate’s leaves are commonly about 1–1.3 m long and 20–30 cm wide. Their breadth and waviness help distinguish the plant from espadín, whose leaves are much narrower and generally straighter. ²

Channeled blade
An enlarged cross-section shows the trough along the leaf.

Scallop and tooth
Fleshy scallop: 1.5 cm high and wide. Tooth: 0.9 cm long and wide. Bar: 5 cm.

Short terminal spine
Illustrated spine: 2 cm. Bar: 1 cm.

Tepeztate and espadín have very different leaves

A whole-rosette photograph plus close views of the margin and tip gives a better view of these features than one leaf alone.

Tepextate in Oaxaca, pichomel in Puebla

Tepeztate and pichomel are regional names for A. marmorata. Around Miahuatlán, plants vary from broad, shorter-leaved forms to narrower-leaved forms. In the Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla, the species is also tapped for aguamiel. ^{3, 4}

Tepeztate grows among rocks in dry forest, scrub and transitions into oak woodland. In Oaxaca it grows in Coixtlahuaca, Huajuapan, Miahuatlán, Tlacolula and Yautepec, on limestone and igneous ground. Harvesting on steep, rocky land means carrying heavy plants out of difficult terrain. 2 4

A. marmorata is also grown in Barcelona’s botanical garden, an overseas planting of this Mexican species. 5

Tepeztate can grow for decades before harvest

Mezcal harvest removes the piña before the agave completes its flowering cycle. Some makers leave plants capón: they cut the emerging flower stalk and let the agave stand longer before harvest. Tomás García Cruz used capón Tepextate for his May 2024 batch. ^{10, 17}

Tepeztate can spend decades in the field before mezcal harvest. Around Miahuatlán, wild plants are commonly harvested at about 12–15 years; Del Maguey estimates 18–25 years for its Tepextate. These are approximate growing ages rather than a fixed harvest schedule. ^{4, 6}

Growing conditions help explain the variation. Tepeztate grows across different soils, vegetation and management systems, and plants in Puebla’s managed and unmanaged populations showed different growth and survival. ^{4, 9}

Flowering maturity can take longer than the wait for a mezcal harvest. Estimates reaching 35 years concern reproduction; they are not a requirement for harvesting every Tepeztate. ^{7, 8}

A flower stalk rises far above the rosette

Each Tepeztate rosette flowers once and then dies. Its tall, branching stalk carries clusters of yellow flowers far above the leaves. Flowering dates vary by place and year. ^{2, 9}

A. marmorata · flowering plant
The illustration is 6 m from ground to highest flower. The leafy rosette is 1.5 m high and about 2.22 m across.

Person: 1.7 m. Bar: 2 m.

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Tomás García Cruz’s last wild Tepextate batch

In May 2024, Tomás García Cruz made batch TPXTGC2405 in Logoche, Miahuatlán, using 25 plants from the rocky, pale-soiled La Jamaica parcel near Santa Cruz. He chose it as his last wild Tepextate batch so that the remaining population could rest. 10

Tomás cooked the piñas for nine days in a conical earthen pit fired with mesquite and oak, then broke it up with a tractor-powered stone mill. Three 1,200-liter wooden vats each received 600 kg of cooked agave and 600 liters of well water. Fermentation began with 72 hours before water was added, followed by six further days. Double distillation in copper produced 100 liters at 45.5% ABV. 10

Wilfrido García Sánchez used a machete and shredder

Wilfrido García Sánchez’s April 2022 batch, TPXWGS2204, began with 84 wild plants from rocky Campo Grande land at Santa Cruz, Miahuatlán: 2,450 kg at harvest. After a week in an earthen pit, he used a machete and mechanical shredder to break up the cooked agave, fermented it for ten days and distilled twice in copper. The batch yielded 170 liters at 49.8% ABV. 11

Tomás’s 600 kg per vat is cooked agave; Wilfrido’s 2,450 kg is the harvest weight.

Tepeztate has no separate total in Mexico’s 2025 certified-mezcal production figures. 12

Floral, fruity and green notes in two Tepeztate mezcals

Pichomel for aguamiel, food and crafts in Puebla

In Puebla’s Tehuacán region, people tap A. marmorata for aguamiel, the sweet liquid fermented into pulque. They bake the stem and leaf bases for food and cook the flowers as seasonal cacayas. 3 14

In parts of Puebla, pulque was the main use until the middle of the twentieth century; mezcal gained prominence in its second half. In remote Oaxaca communities, rugged terrain and limited planting resources shaped which agaves people used for distillation. ^{14, 4}

Dried flower stalks become rustic building materials and bird-nest crafts. Living plants mark boundaries and protect fields; flowering structures decorate churches during religious celebrations. Medicinal uses are also part of local knowledge in these communities. 14

Seedlings, offsets and the next generation

Tepeztate grows from seed and also produces offsets—shoots beside the parent. In Puebla, offsets have appeared on rosettes around 60 cm across. Around Miahuatlán, they are seen mainly on severely stressed plants. ^{9, 4}

Leaving Tepeztate to flower provides nectar for wildlife and an opportunity to set seed. In Tehuacán, orioles can pick up pollen as they feed and are likely pollinators. Bats and moths also take nectar, with little or no contact with the flowers’ reproductive parts. ¹⁵

In Puebla, Sauane Katchu, formed in 2017, collects seed, raises young plants and grows agaves alongside other useful plants around Zapotitlán de las Salinas, San Juan Raya and San Luis Atolotitlán. 14

Cultivated Tepeztate plants had less genetic diversity than wild plants in samples collected across Puebla and Oaxaca in 2021–2022. ⁸

Tepeztate was classified as Least Concern globally in its 2019 IUCN assessment, although its population was decreasing and northern populations faced greater harvesting pressure. ¹⁶

Questions about Tepeztate

Are tepeztate and tepextate the same agave?

Yes. Tepeztate and tepextate are both Oaxaca mezcal names for Agave marmorata. 3 4

Does Tepeztate always take 35 years to mature?

No. Tepeztate harvest ages vary with the growing site and maker. Around Miahuatlán, wild harvests are commonly about 12–15 years; Del Maguey estimates 18–25 years. The estimates reaching 35 years concern flowering maturity, rather than a fixed age for making mezcal. ^{4, 6, 7, 8}

Can Tepeztate make pulque?

Yes. People tap living Tepeztate (Agave marmorata) for aguamiel and ferment it into pulque in Puebla. Mezcal begins with the harvested, cooked piña, or agave heart. 14

Is Tepeztate only a wild agave?

No. Tepeztate (Agave marmorata) also grows in cultivation, living fences and nurseries in Puebla and Oaxaca. ⁸

More agave names and drinks

Browse the agave names guide for other maguey names and scientific identities. Navigating Mexico’s agave drinks explains aguamiel, pulque and distilled agave spirits.

Sources and illustration notes