Wild Caffeine & The Original Sweet Tea- Yaupon Holly

Sep 4

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Rooted! This week We are digging in to the ONLY caffeinated plant native to North America- Yaupon holly!

Yaupon Holly, or Ilex Vomitoria, is a member of the Acanthaceae family, with famous relatives like yerba mate, winterberry, and well…Holly.

Yaupon Holly actually get’s its latin name due to the fact that- according to early european colonizers in north america, sometimes the ceremonies native people’s used this plant in caused participants to vomit, and well….at the time they decided they were above that and made it’s scientific name highly imply it would for SURE make you puke….they eventually changed their tune, but we will get to that later.

Yaupon Holly is specifically native to the eastern United States, with a natural habitat spreading from virginia down to texas. It has a strong preference for sandy well-draining soil, and is usually found along the coast.

Defined by it’s glossy, small evergreen leaves with deep margins (so like glossy and pointy) and its thin gray hairy shoots. They have light colored flowers and small red berries (technically drupes for fruit fans) that are an important food source for birds, armadillos, bears, and all kinds of feathered and furry friends.

While we do have several accounts of this plant being used in ceremonies by colonizers, it is important to recognize that we are missing a lot of these accounts from their native cultures. It is widely believed that these ceremonies were used to help participants cleanse their bodies and minds, and potentially strengthen their connection to a higher power, but we don’t have much first hand evidence to support that due to the eradication and erasure of indigenous culture. We DO however know that for several nations along the eastern coast of what is now the United States, these plants were as important to culture as they were to trade, with evidence of them reaching all the way out to California and even well into canada.

As you might imagine, when colonizers first arrived in the area, they were a little bit skeptical of the tea, which is made by roasting and steeping the LEAF of the plant. They wrongfully assumed the berries could be eaten and well….they were SUPER wrong. The berries can cause vomiting, tummy troubles, and all kinds of other not great stuff when eaten.

However, like I mentioned earlier, their tune really changed when daddy britain cut them off from their caffeine supply for saying they didn’t want to be part of the family anymore…suddenly yaupon tea was all the rage, with folks lining up everywhere to get a taste of the so called “Black Drink)- called this due to the color of the tea after steeping.

Interestingly, a lot of people reported to like this tea BETTER than the stuff they were buying from england..This is likely because Yaupon Holly has just as much caffeine with NONE of the tannins, leading to a sweeter and smoother brew every time- without the risk of over steeping. No tannins ALSO means none of the tummy troubles associated with tea, meaning people no longer needed sugar cubes or pastries to avoid feeling pukey when they drank it on an empty stomach.

Honestly pissed that their plan to give settlers a caffeine headache so bad they quit backfired, the brits decided they simply could NOT allow this newly dubbed “liberty tea” to catch on, after all- the king at the time was estimated to have made 70% of his income from tea, and he wasn't about to let those yankee brats ruin his life….so he set his team to work- quickly capitalizing on the fact that they made the scientific name translate to “holly that makes you vomit” to stop it from becoming trendy.

In the last 10 years or so Yaupon Holly has had a bit of a resurgence, but it’s worth noting that is is mostly NOT being led by the indigenous peoples this tradition belongs to. Because of that, my suggestion if you WANT to try this tea is to do your best to always support ingenious owned businesses first, followed by either foraging yourself OR supporting a small local business vs any kind of large scale commercial brands that are popping up and selling the stuff! If you have a trip to Savannah GA coming up, the ity is known for working hyper local ingredients into their dishes, with yaupon holly certainly being no exception, so that might be a great place to start!

In medicine Yaupon was traditionally believed to be used to Calm nerves

Create a stimulating effect
Purify water
Suppress and induce appetite
Induce sleep, dreams and visions by the medicine men who smoked it
Regulate female menstrual cycles
Heal skin as a salve for rashes and wounds
Fend off bacteria due to the plant's anti-bacterial properties
Create fermented tea
Purify body, mind and soul as part of The Black Drink Ceremony, which involved fasting, drinking, chanting and purgin

Outside of medicine, yaupon holly is also a super popular landscaping plant all down the east coast! Next time you see it, I hope you’ll give it a little nod, take a moment to let it make you feel a little extra energized, and then send your thanks and acknowledgement to the people and cultures who have shared so much knowledge with us.

That’s all I’ve got this week, but I’ll be back soon with another weird and wonderful plant for us all to dig into. See you then!

Sources:

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ilvo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly

https://yaupon.store/a-brief-history-of-our-north-american-gem-yaupon-holly/

https://www.palmettobluff.com/discover/stories/the-untold-story-of-the-humble-yaupon-holly/

https://herbsocietyblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/27/yaupon-legend-dispelled/

https://yauponbrothers.com/blogs/news/yaupon-holly-a-tale-of-tea-sugar-slavery-and-slander

https://www.atlantamagazine.com/drinks/redefining-teatime-the-deep-roots-of-yaupon-holly/

https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_ilvo.pdf

https://mycherokeegarden.com/2015/04/23/youpon-holly/

https://www.discovery.com/exploration/teen-s-exciting-mayan-discovery-