Herbal Notebook: Myth, Magic, & Green Medicine

Yaupon Holly: Wild Caffeine

My research notebooks are crammed with intriguing bits of plant history and lore that didn’t make it into the books. I’d love to share some of it with you. This is the second in the Summer Herbal Notebook series.

Back in Civil War days in the South, coffee was impossible to get. But that didn't mean that Southerners had to give up caffeine for the duration. They could go out to the yard or the nearest woods, pick a bucket of yaupon leaves, dry them, and brew. Voilà! A cup of wild caffeine.

Yaupon—a tidy shrub or small tree with bright green leaves and red berries, a member of the holly (Ilex) family—is native to North America from Maryland south to Florida and west to Texas. Because its leaves contain more caffeine than any other indigenous North American plant, First Americans drank it regularly as a stimulant and a medicinal, used it in their rituals, and traded it with tribes as far west as Cahokia, the pre-Columbian city outside St. Louis. Early Spanish colonists in Florida called it cassina and drank it regularly. English settlers called it “black drink” (because of its color) and enjoyed it as well. In the early 18th century, as Ilex cassine, it was exported to England at a half-guinea a pound, where it became an increasingly popular drink.

Yaupon holly, in my yard

But that was when trouble began to brew—and when the plant got its new name.

Reports surfaced that “American savages” drank the tea ritually as a purgative, and the plant became . . . shall we say, somewhat less appetizing. In fact, in 1789, in recognition of that reported practice, it received a new scientific name—Ilex vomitoria—in an official publication of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

It’s been speculated that the unfortunate name may have been adopted to stifle economic competition in England with China tea. (1) And that may well be. But let’s remember that the Boston Tea Party took place in December, 1773, and colonists passionately forswore imported (and taxed) China tea in favor of their local teas—including Ilex. And that by the time the Royal Botanic Gardens gave yaupon its new and distinctly distasteful name, the colonies were independent and had just (1778) ratified their Constitution. The plant’s unsavory political reputation notwithstanding, however, many Brits continued to drink it because it was cheap. And tasty.

If you have a yaupon holly in your garden, making yaupon tea is as easy as collecting and drying the leaves (in your oven with the pilot light on), and crushing and brewing them. No yaupon? No problem: you can purchase the loose leaves or tea bags online. Sweeten your brew with honey, if you like. The flavor is something like green tea, maybe a little more earthy. While caffeine levels vary (depending on the plant and its micro-climate), it's roughly comparable to green and black tea.

And in the long term, those of us who can grow yaupon in our yards are lucky. In an era of climate change, coffee (Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora) and tea (Camellia sinensis) may not be long-term sustainable crops. Yaupon, like most hollies, is a stubborn survivor. If you live in Zones 7-9, you can add this shrub to your garden.

And produce your own daily cup of caffeine--sustainable caffeine.

(1) “Black Drink and Other Caffeine-containing Beverages among Non-Indians,” by William Sturtevant, in Black Drink: A Native American Drink, ed. Charles M. Hudson, pp. 153-54.

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