What's the etiquette for ordering tequila in a Mexico City mezcalería?
Ordering tequila in a mezcalería is fine — every serious room stocks 3–5 good ones. Ordering it 'with lime and salt' is not. Ask for a reposado or añejo neat, in a copita, with a sangrita back. The salt-and-lime ritual is a taquería thing, not a spirits-bar thing.
What locals actually do
The salt-and-lime shot is a bar trick to hide bad tequila — it made sense when the only exported tequila was industrial. Serious tequila (Fortaleza, Siete Leguas, Tapatío, Ocho) is sipped the same way mezcal is: room temp, copita, small pours, water back. A good mezcalería bartender will pour you a great tequila and pretend you asked correctly if you slip up once. Order lime and salt with your second and they'll gently steer you.
At Bósforo or La Clandestina: one reposado (Fortaleza or Siete Leguas), copita, sangrita back. Then one espadín mezcal to compare. That's the education.
Practical notes
- 01'Blanco' is unaged and expressive of the agave. 'Reposado' is 2–12 months in oak — the default sipper. 'Añejo' is 1–3 years, more like a good bourbon.
- 02Sangrita (spicy tomato-citrus chaser) is the correct pairing, not lime.
- 03Tequila NOM numbers on the bottle identify the distillery; ask the bartender to point out anything from a single-estate producer.
Good to know
- ✗Asking for lime and salt in a mezcalería. Not a moral failing, but the room notices.
- ✗Ordering a margarita in a spirits-forward bar. Wrong room — go to a cocktail bar for that.
- ✗Assuming Patrón or Don Julio 1942 is what serious drinkers order. Neither shows up on a good bar's back bar.