A coa de jima or coa is a specialized tool for harvesting agave

Agave

Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....

s.

It is a long, machete

Machete

The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...

-like round-ended knife

Knife

A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...

 on a long wooden handle used by a jimador

Jimador

A jimador is a type of Mexican farmer who harvests agave plants, which are harvested primarily for the production of mezcal, sotol and tequila. This task requires the skill of identifying ripe agave, which ripens in between 8 and 12 years. Unripe agave can have a bitter or overly sweet taste,...

 to cut the leaves off an agave being harvested and to cut the agave from its roots. The core (or "heart") left, called piña ("pineapple

Pineapple

Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...

"), is used for the production of mezcal

Mezcal

Mezcal, or mescal, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant native to Mexico. The word mezcal comes from Nahuatl metl and ixcalli which mean 'oven cooked agave.'...

, sotol

Sotol

Sotol is a distilled spirit made from the Dasylirion wheeleri , a plant that grows in the wilds of Northern Mexico, New Mexico, West Texas, and the Texas Hill Country . It is known as the state drink of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila. There are few commercial examples available...

 or tequila

Tequila

Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara, and in the highlands of the western Mexican state of Jalisco....

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The shape of the coa is adapted for the efficiency of carrying out these operations.