View Full Version : Southern Boys: Yaupon tea?
Any of you Southerners heard of Yaupon tea? It's brewed from the leaves of the Yaupon holly tree/bush, which is the only Native American plant containing caffeine. The range appears to be all of the coastal areas of the South. It is supposedly widespread and is used as a decorative shrub.
Apparently it was brewed locally during hard times as a coffee substitute and still has a following. Rumor has it it is sold at some roadside stands. Anyone seen it being sold? I'm looking to purchase a goodly passel (see what I did there?)
http://yauponasitea.com/product-category/yaupon-tea/
Thanks. I've seen these sellers. Their prices are ridiculous. Their market is new age hipsters and desperate cancer patients. I hear the roadside stands sell half pound and pound sacks for 5-10 bucks.
This is for the Old Guys at the Rez. They're not rich. They make "black water" out of it--which is not black at all but a green tea--and they mix it in with red dogwood and red willow bark in their kinnikinnick when they can get it. Back in the day they used to trade native copper for it but now they only get it when someone is driving back from a week at the beach. :)
doctom54
12-20-2014, 15:56
http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/issue34/article940.html
Also I highly recommend
Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Easter and Central North America, 3rd edition
Koldsteel
12-20-2014, 21:59
Very interesting. We were always taught that yaupon was an emetic. Gonna have to look into this tea.
The Reaper
12-20-2014, 22:01
Very interesting. We were always taught that yaupon was an emetic. Gonna have to look into this tea.
It is at heavy dosages. Look at the scientific name.
Reminds me of yerba mate from South America.
mug, any chance you could get seedlings and greenhouse them?
TR
I have lived my entire life ( military service excluded) within sight of water in the coastal South, literally. I have never heard of it. This is due to my inability to tell the difference between kudzu and Johnson grass. However, I will check with my county agent and get back with y'all: If its greenhouse growable, etc. It shouldn't be a big trick to get some and send it North.
Most if not all the homes in my neighborhood have Yaupon holly (Ilex Vomitoria) in their landscaping. I have somewhere around 30 of them, all males! https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrTccNm65ZU0EcAckwPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBs OXB2YTRjBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkAw--?_adv_prop=image&fr=yhs-mozilla-001&va=ilex+vomitoria&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001
Thanks for the field guide recommendation doctom, I'll definitely look into it.
It sounds like I was given bad gouge...roadside vendors must not exist or are rare it seems. It sounded credible, certainly no weirder than boiled goober and fried gizzard stands.
Yep greenhousing it would be an option but not worth the effort. I was trying to do a favor for the Old Guys on the rez. They make "black water" tea out of yaupon as a medicine and put it in their kinnikinnick (foul stuff).
Goes to show how sophisticated the Indian trade networks were back in the day. The Anishinaabe would trade raw copper for this stuff and got it regularly enough that it's still remembered.
Some parts of their traditional medicine seem to place great store in rare and difficult to obtain ingredients. The OGs sort of admit that some things they give patients don't have a direct physiological effect but it makes no difference. The effort expended in getting the ingredient gets transferred to the patient as "good stuff."
Anyhoo, thanks for the responses.
The Reaper
12-21-2014, 10:43
mug:
Been in and around NC most of my life, and I do not recall ever seeing this for sale. Unlike ginseng.
Since you brought it up, I will keep my eyes open, but here in NC, it looks to be a very specific coastal and Outer Banks plant. The next time we see our nursery guy, I will ask him if it will grow here.
Nothing wrong with boiled goobers, and BTW, how much copper do they have?:D
Looks like WCH is your source. Next time he trims hedges, all he has to do is box it up and send it your way.
TR
mug:
Been in and around NC most of my life, and I do not recall ever seeing this for sale.
Since you brought it up, I will keep my eyes open, but here in NC, it looks to be a very specific coastal and Outer Banks plant. The next time we see our nursery guy, I will ask him if it will grow here.
Nothing wrong with boiled goobers, and BTW, how much copper do they have?:D
Looks like WCH is your source. Next time he trims hedges, all he has to do is box it up and send it your way.
TR
There should be plenty of new growth (I hear that's the best for tea) in the spring. I would be happy to send a box full for tribe, just let me know where to ship it.
The Reaper
12-21-2014, 14:34
I love it when a plan comes together!
TR
Ambush Master
12-22-2014, 11:54
mug:
Since you brought it up, I will keep my eyes open, but here in NC, it looks to be a very specific coastal and Outer Banks plant. The next time we see our nursery guy, I will ask him if it will grow here.
TR
It's all over Camp Macall!! It grows all the way up into Central Texas!!
Reminds me of yerba mate from South America.
Makes sense. Yerba Mate comes from a species of holly.
I know some nurserymen who grow 10 of thousands of these. During the production process they will be occasionally pruned. Let me know if you still need and I will find out when they prune again. One thing I will need to check out is pesticide applications prior to pruning.
Mug, I'm planning to prune some of my plants next week for you. PM the mailing address to ship them to. Happy new year!
...It sounded credible, certainly no weirder than boiled goober and fried gizzard stands.....
Fried gizzards are best right out of the frier. If they sit under a hot light for a while they get chewy.
Find a place that cooks them good - go around lunch time and kinda' hang back until they dump a new batch.
The corner Time Saver on the Merk has a large box of gizzards with a couple of tubs of Texas Pete for under $4.
Their regular cook had a heart attack and I was there when they were trying to break in her replacement. I hung back a couple of times that day.
The Reaper
12-26-2014, 14:39
Fried gizzards are best right out of the frier. If they sit under a hot light for a while they get chewy.
Find a place that cooks them good - go around lunch time and kinda' hang back until they dump a new batch.
The corner Time Saver on the Merk has a large box of gizzards with a couple of tubs of Texas Pete for under $4.
Their regular cook had a heart attack and I was there when they were trying to break in her replacement. I hung back a couple of times that day.
Chewy gizzards and heart attacks?
Who knew?
TR
Mug, I'm planning to prune some of my plants next week for you. PM the mailing address to ship them to. Happy new year!
PM sent. Thanks so much!