It's sunrise for a hot Latin spirit

Jake Pena from Pocho Bar (right) and Michael Chen from Starling Bar mix drinks at a tequila themed cocktail party.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Those who market tequila see a great future for it in China - with or without margaritas.

Think of Mexico, and your mind may take you on a journey from Aztecs to Zapotecs via burritos, jalapenos, nachos, tacos and sombreros.

Standing in the shade of one of those sombreros may well be a bottle of tequila, hidden enough to escape the attention of most passersby, and a godsend for the first person who spots it.

Those who make and sell the Mexican spirit, which gets its name from the town 60 kilometers from Guadalajara, are doing their level best to raise its profile, and that applies particularly in China, where few people know it.

And those leading this campaign are not shy in their ambitions: to make China the second-largest tequila market next to the United States within the next five years.

How tall that order is becomes clear when you consider that last year China was the 22nd biggest market for the drink, in terms of volume, importing about 488,000 liters worth $2.6 million, says the Mexican National Chamber of the Tequila Industry, CNIT.