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Yaupon tea (also known as "beloved drink", "cassina", "big medicine", or "white drink", "black drink", "Carolina tea", "South Seas tea", or "Indian tea" by Europeans) is any of several kinds of Caffeine beverages originally brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States and later adopted by Europeans and European Americans. In It is generally brewed from yaupon holly ( Ilex vomitoria), which is native to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, and is related to yerba mate ( Ilex paraguariensis) and Ilex guayusa. Historical versions of drink may also have included the related dahoon holly ( Ilex cassine) and other herbs.
A highly concentrated yaupon beverage was used in various , including purification ceremonies, "YAUPON Ilex vomitoria Aiton", Natural Resources Conservation Service: Plant Guide. USDA by Yuchi people, Caddo, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee people, Timucua, Chitimacha and other Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands. Furthermore, other Native groups who did not live within the natural range of yaupon traded for it or cultivated it. Its use in the ancient Mississippian metropolis of Cahokia has also been confirmed. Native peoples used yaupon tea as a social drink in council meetings and it was offered to guests as a hospitable drink. They also used it as a medicinal tea. It was also drunk as a daily energizing drink, and a strong version of it was drunk by men before battle. It was known by various names, including "white drink" (due to its associations with purity), "beloved drink" (the plant being known as the "beloved tree"), as well as "black drink" (mostly by Europeans, due to the color of the strong brew).
The preparation and protocols vary between tribes and ceremonial grounds; a prominent ingredient is the roasted leaves and stems of Ilex vomitoria. In some contexts, the yaupon drink was made in a highly concentrated form that may have contained other herbs which may have had emetic properties. Fasting before ceremonies, along with excessive consumption of large quantities of the drink may have also caused the vomiting which was observed by Europeans. These observations led to the association of the drink with vomiting, and also to its modern scientific name, even though the yaupon leaf has no inherent emetic properties. According to the USDA, "modern chemical analysis of yaupon has found no emetic or toxic compounds, and caffeine concentrations are similar to many commercially marketed teas."
Yaupon tea was adopted by European colonists (initially the Spanish in Florida) as early as the 17th century, who drank it as a normal caffeinated beverage. It continued to be used by White Americans living in the American South, especially in the Carolinas. Its use mostly died out in the early 20th century, but the drink saw renewed popularity in the 21st century. Yaupon tea also continues to be used by various Native American tribes, like the , who make a black drink for their annual Green Corn Ceremony (however, the drink does not always contain yaupon, since it is a blend of various plants).
The leaves contain 0.0038 to 0.2288 percent caffeine by weight according to experiments performed by Adam Edwards in 2002. In comparison, Owen gives the caffeine content of coffee as between 1.01 and 1.42 percent. The combination of a lower caffeine content with theobromine, and theophylline can provide alertness without jitteriness and the caffeine crash.
Furthermore, the Ilex vomitoria has been found to be high in the following antioxidant and anti-inflammatory Polyphenol: chlorogenic acid, rutin, neochlorogenic acid and cryptochlorogenic acid.
It also contains theacrine, quercetin and saponin. A study by the University of Florida of the yaupon cultivar "Nana" found that the plant contained as much antioxidant potential as Blueberry.
The leaves of the yaupon holly also contain little to no Tannin, which means that the tea has neither bitterness nor Astringent. As such, over-steeping the leaves will not make a bitter brew.
Afterwards, the leaves were boiled in large containers of water until the liquid reached a dark brown or black color (hence the name "black drink"). The liquid was then strained into containers to cool, until it was cool enough to not scald the skin, and drunk while still hot. Because caffeine is 30 times more soluble in boiling water than room temperature water, this heightened its effect. It was then consumed in a ritual manner. Its physiological effects are believed to be mainly those of massive doses of caffeine. Yaupon tea has a higher concentration of caffeine than strong coffee.
The general method of production is known, but not all details of the preparation and ceremonial usage of the black drink are. The source of the emetic effect of black drink is not known and has been speculated upon by historians, archaeologists, and botanists. Some professionals believe it to be caused by the addition of the poisonous Eryngium yuccifolium.
European colonists adopted the production of the yaupon leaves from the Native peoples and made an infusion which they called by various names including yaupon tea, Indian tea, Carolina tea, South Seas tea or Appalachia tea.
Contemporary preparation and usage of the yaupon drink by Native Americans is less well documented. Online recipes for the brew have been criticized by some Native Americans as potentially dangerous and potentially poisonous due to those recipes leaving out key steps. The berries of the yaupon holly are poisonous. They can lead to kidney failure and should not be consumed. Adam Edwards and Bradley Bennett tested stems, roots, and leaves of the yaupon. They found that the only possible toxic substance was theobromine, an alkaloid, but the amounts of the chemical were so low that a single gram of cocoa contained over 2,255 times more theobromine than yaupon.
The presence of the black drink in the Greater Cahokia area at this early date pushes back the definitive use of the black drink by several centuries. The presence of the black drink hundreds of miles outside of its natural range on the East and Gulf coasts is evidence of a substantial trade network with the southeast, a trade that also involved sharks teeth and whelk shells. This is confirmed by historical accounts. John Brickell's Natural History of North Carolina (1737), states that the indigenous peoples of the North Carolina coast "frequently carry it yaupon to the Westward Indians, who give Deer Skins, and other Necessaries they want for."
Artifacts made from these marine shells have been found as far north as Wisconsin and as far west as Oklahoma. Several examples of cups from Moundville and Spiro Mounds have been found to have rings of black residue in the bottoms, suggesting they were used for black drink rituals. Many examples of shell cups found in Mississippian culture mounds are engraved with S.E.C.C. imagery. A few examples portray what is theorized to be black drink rituals, including what some anthropologists have interpreted as vomit issuing from the mouths of mythological beings.
The chemical analysis also suggests a possible increase in drinks prepared from cacao after the year 1200, and a decrease in the use of drinks prepared from Ilex vomitoria. Freshwater shells from Texas and Arkansas have been recovered from Pueblo Bonito, which have been used as possible evidence for the trade of Ilex vomitoria from the east. There are also some stands of Ilex vomitoria in Mesoamerica, so the exact origins of the Ilex vomitoria used to prepare the drinks is currently unknown.
Although rituals vary amongst the different tribes, there are some common traits among them. Black drink was most commonly drunk by men, who also prepare it, but there are some accounts of its preparation and use by women among some groups. Some of these rituals included ritual vomiting, associated with purification. The removal of tribes to areas outside the natural range of Ilex vomitoria has been partially responsible for a decline in the preparation of the black drink among present Native Americans.
The various Native groups also used yaupon drinks outside of ritual ceremonial contexts. They drank it daily as a social drink, especially among men in council meetings. They also drank it as an energizing brew before combat or work. They also used it as medicine to heal wounds, calm nerves, suppress appetite, and regulate menstrual cycles. They even used it to induce dreams.
Ilex vomitoria was not native to the traditional area controlled by the Cherokee before removal, but it was brought in to the area through trade and then transplanted.
Among the tribes of the Muscogee Creek confederacy, yaupon was consumed in ceremonial purification rites as well as in highly formal meetings. Furthermore, several writers on the topic state that men in Creek towns gathered daily in the town center or council houses to discuss key matters and partake of the yaupon drink. The Creeks also offered yaupon beverages to friendly visitors to indicate their hospitable intentions.
Its use by Spanish colonists in settlements of Spanish Florida (such as Saint Augustine) is documented as far back as 1615, when a Spanish priest wrote "there is no Spaniard or Indian who does not drink it every day in the morning or evening". An account from that year by botanist Francisco Ximenez describes Spaniards as experiencing symptoms that would now be described as caffeine dependence due to daily consumption of what they called cacina or té del indio.
The use of Ilex vomitoria by colonists for tea making and for medicinal uses in the Carolinas is documented by the early eighteenth century. In the English-speaking colonies, it was known variously as cassina, yaupon tea, Indian tea, Carolina tea, and Appalachian tea. It was commonly believed to be and used as a diuretic. By the late 1700s, yaupon tea was described as being more commonly used in North Carolina at breakfast than tea made with Camellia sinensis. In addition to using it on their own, European colonists often consumed yaupon tea when engaging in discussions and treaties with Natives. Its preparation by European colonists was nearly identical to the method of preparation used by their Native neighbors. Its consumption by colonists in French Louisiana is speculated to have occurred, but lacks documentation other than one source describing its medicinal uses from 1716.
Charles Hudson writes that by the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), yaupon was being grown on colonial farms, and was consumed widely in towns across the Southern American colonies. During the American revolutionary era there was a patriotic backlash against British tea, in part caused by the Tea Act (1773). The anti-tea campaign boycotted British tea and promoted local Herbal tea, like Yaupon and Labrador tea, which they called liberty teas.Griffiths, John (2007). Tea: The Drink that Changed the World, p. 78, London: Andre Deutsch. Yaupon was also drunk by the Spanish, as a French writer states "The Spaniards make great use of it over all Florida: it is even their ordinary drink." According to Southern American sources, prior to the U.S. Civil War "nearly every plantation and farm had what is termed a yopon nursery".
Yaupon tea was not just popular in the North American South, it was also traded and drunk in Europe, including in Paris and London. In Europe, the tea was known as Carolina tea or South Seas Tea in London and as Apalachine in Paris. It was also promoted as a medicinal tea. In the 18th century, the German botanist Johann David Schöpf wrote in his diaries that the alternative American tea had become so popular that the British East India Company saw it as a threat to its tea trade. This led England to limit yaupon imports. It was at this time that the Scottish botanist William Aiton gave yaupon its controversial scientific name, Ilex vomitoria. While this name may have reflected its ritual consumption among Native Americans, some (like Florida applied ecologist Francis Putz) believe that this name was also a way to smear yaupon and lessen its impact on the English tea trade. The scientific name of the plant continued to be debated well into the 20th century and the European confusion about its falsely attributed emetic properties continued well into the 19th century.
During the Civil War (1861–1865), yaupon tea was used as a substitute for coffee and tea throughout the South, since their supply had been cut off by the Union blockade. Yaupon continued to be used in North Carolina for medicinal purposes and as a common drink until the late 1890s. The Carolinas had a thriving yaupon tea industry in the 19th century. At the turn of the century, its use was stigmatized because of its associations as a habit of rural people who were too poor to afford coffee and tea. According to Charles M. Hudson "Cassina yaupon was so abundant on the coast that it could be drunk by the poor; hence it became déclassé." Furthermore, the tea became associated with poor American southern blacks, who also adopted it from indigenous people, drank the tea widely and used it as a folk medicine. As such, whites began to avoid yaupon due to its class and racial associations.
By 1928 it was described as only being in common use on Knotts Island, North Carolina. During the Interwar period (1918–1939) the United States Department of Agriculture investigated the use of cassina tea as an economical substitute for coffee and tea and they even tested yaupon drinks at the Charleston County Fair. There were also a few attempts at the commercialization of cassina tea during that same period. By 1973 it was believed that cassina tea was only being served at the Pony Island Restaurant on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina.
Various American brands of Yaupon tea can now be purchased in several local marketplaces, online and at several historical sites related to Native Americans. These small firms market yaupon tea as an organic, Local food, ethically harvested and Environmentalism caffeinated drink. Demand for the drink has increased recently and in 2018 the American Yaupon Association was formed to promote yaupon. According to Folch "much of the yaupon sold by U.S.-based companies is organic—it is a popular hedge partly because it is endemic and requires no Fertilizer, Herbicide, or Pesticide and little to no watering—and is foraged or grown in small plots (even in Central Florida's backyards)."
Yaupon tea is now carried by Whole Foods, who has promoted it as one of the top new food trends of 2023. It is also now sold as a fermented kombucha like beverage and in a powdered (matcha style) form.
According to BBC reporter Matt Stirn, yaupon tea brews as "a yellow to dark-orange elixir with a fruity and earthy aroma and a smooth flavour with malty tones" and its "ratio of stimulating xanthines such as caffeine, theobromine and theophylline release slowly into the body, providing a jitter-free mental clarity and an ease to the stomach."
There are various commercial Cultivar of yaupon available from nurseries and commercial growers, including: 'Folsom Weeping', Grey's Little Leaf, 'Jewel', 'Nana', 'Pendula' 'Poole's Best', 'Pride of Houston', 'Shadow's Female', 'Shillings/Stokes Dwarf', 'Straughn's', 'Yawkey', and 'Yellow Berry'.
Due to the current environmental damage associated with other caffeine crops like coffee, a recent study by American botanists has promoted the use of local caffeine crops, like yaupon, as a more sustainable and environmentally friendly caffeine crop. Yaupon tea is expected to see increased demand in the United States in the 2020s due to tariffs placed by the United States government on tea and coffee imports.
Yaupon tea also continues to be used by some Native American tribes, like the Seminole and the Cherokee.
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