SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – If you live in states connecting Virginia to Florida and Texas, you are surrounded by the ancient, native wild tea leaves of the only caffeinated plant native to North America.
Yaupon isn’t a weaker version of the caffeinated teas or coffees that you already drink. In fact, it has more caffeine than either of those two options.
Instead of the jittery effect that coffee can give humans, yaupon is known to provide those who drink it a calm alertness and mental clarity.
Spaniards began drinking Yaupon tea in Florida, but once the leaves of the Asian Camellia sinensis (think Lipton or Luzianne) plant was brought to North America, our native Yaupon’s use was mostly abandoned.
The tea that’s not a tea
The tea industry would likely want you to know that Yaupon isn’t a tea at all. Technically speaking, only the leaves of Camellia sinensis make tea. Yaupon leaves make tisanes.
But the amazing thing about tisanes is that research shows beverages made using certain herbs have serious medicinal benefits. From controlling migraines to drastically improving issues brought about by diabetes, studying tisanes is basically studying natural medicines. Click here if you want to dive further into that subject.
It’s not enough that Yaupon is highly caffeinated and can be fused with other tisanes to make healing and delicious beverages. Yaupon also makes gardeners who can kill a cactus feel like they’re good at landscaping, too! And once the fuss-free plant is well-established, you’ll start turning to back-yard Yaupon instead of turning into that drive-thru coffee shop.
Yaupon is what people who lived on these southern lands drank before cars or coffee shops were invented, after all.
Once called Assi by the Hitchiti, other native tribes used the leaves of Yaupon to make “white drink.” Early colonists called the same brew “black drink” because of the color. But roses by another name will smell as sweet, Shakespeare. And Yaupon was a token of peace and friendship by many tribes of man native to North America. Call it what you want, just don’t forget that you can (and perhaps should) drink it.
A verbal taste-test
Dr. William Merrill of the Smithsonian Institution wrote that when the shrub’s leaves are roasted and boiled, they make a yellow to dark-orange tea that tastes earthy, fruity, and smooth with malty tones.
The drink is over a thousand years old and was present when Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was captured in Texas. He wrote, in the 1500s, that Cassina was used by natives who drank it “as hot as they can stand.”
Sound familiar? How many people do you know who do that with coffee?
By 1615 in what we now call Florida, a priest had already become caffeine-addicted. He wrote that any day a Spaniard does not drink it, he feels that he is going to die.”
Does that sound familiar, too?
But if you drink large quantities of it, you will vomit. That’s why it has the scientific name of Ilex vomitoria. But don’t worry—you’re not going to drink that much of it, right?
What is Yaupon?
If you’re wondering why the drink and the plant fell out of favor, the reason is simple. It gained a reputation of being a drink for the poor. The upper classes looked down upon those who drank Yaupon tea, believing exotic teas to be superior to this native version because exotic teas and tisanes were hard to grow and had to be imported. The affordability (free) of Yaupon tea made it obvious to the rich who had money and who did not.
But we’ve matured as a nation, right? Now we can truly appreciate that Yaupon is an evergreen plant with a woody stem and small, pointed leaves. We can find beauty in the fact that it’s evergreen and native to the southeastern United States. And we are fortunate to be able to let our Yaupon specimens grow into trees if we wish or stay medium-sized with good pruning. Those with tiny spaces in their gardens to fill may be interested in a dwarf Yaupon called Nana.
And if you’re not into red berries, grow the yellow-berried version called Aurea.
This plant has adapted to our climate since prehistoric times. And though our climate is changing, perhaps there is still time left to appreciate this splendid plant and take advantage of its medicinal benefits.
The berries of the Yaupon are loved by birds, squirrels, and raccoons, and the fruit is available for them during winter. Female Yaupons attract native bird species with their brightly colored, red berries.
Yaupon is a holly and does not mind when white-tailed deer feed on its leaves. It just so happens to be one of the fastest-growing plants in North America. It can recover quickly.
And like other plants that people like to call weeds, Yaupon is not a weed. It’s a historic plant that wants to grow in your yard. You don’t have to fight to keep it alive, and you don’t have to obsess over keeping it watered.
If plants had middle names, this one’s middle name would be “Resilient.”
And the same can be said of the people who understand why it’s important to welcome Yaupon onto their property and into their kettles, too. You understand the meaning of the word resilience.
