Yaupon Holly Makes a Tea Drunk By Millions, Then We Stopped Using It. Here's Why.

I work as a landscaper it's amazing how many of these I've planted in people's yards and I never knew this about them

This is an incredibly common plant in southeastern pine forests. It can create thickets so dense that it is almost impossible to walk through.

I discovered Youpon Holly and American Holly as a teen and used it many times. Regular tea tastes better. I'm sure it's been mentioned before but just in case, make sure you dont eat the red berries. They're full of cyanide. But the leaves are ok. One time I touched the flesh of a Youpon Holly berry to the tip of my tongue. It made my entire mouth itch uncontrollably. I quickly rinsed my mouth with water over and over until the discomfort subsided. Just that tiny amount of cyanide was enough to inflame the tissues of my mouth. If you swallow a whole berry I'd imagine you'll start foaming at the mouth and possibly die in a great deal of physical pain. So yeah, avoid the berries friend 👍.

North Georgia here and I love the wild youpon trees ! Sorta rare in my area because of development but they still pop up in the wilder areas

Yaupon was used by Florida pioneers when coffee wasn't available. The leaves were parched in a skillet, then ground and brewed as coffee. Nasty, but it does the trick. The use by the Southern tribes as a stimulant prior to war yielded excited warriors on a caffeine jag, lending rise to the war title of Hadjo (wild, crazy, or mad). My Muskogee ancestors & the Seminoles used the term as an honorific indicating a person full of zeal.

Fascinating!!! I'm not American, but I think this project, educating people about valuable plants in nature, is wonderful! ❤👏👏👏

I love it. Grows all over the yard. It's best when lightly roasted before brewing.

Thank you so much for this informative video! I actually have some on my land in Texas and have tried to sell it locally, but people are afraid of it. It’s really tasty. Perhaps after this video it will catch on!!

Bummer that this doesn’t grow where I live (eastern Washington state)! I think the single most devastating thing that has happened to this earth is the idea that we(humans) are somehow not part of nature. So I appreciate you empowering people to converge with the world around them.

I live in Minnesota and grow it in a container that I bring inside during the winter. I've had it for years and harvest the leaves once a year. And it is quite attractive that way too.

Also dandelion root makes good coffee

The black drink ceremony was presided over by a man with the title of Asi Yaholo, a title like "Cantor". Asi was the name of the drink, made from Asi Liputschi (Little leaves), the name for Yaupon. The title of Asi Yaholo was butchered by the whites as Osceola. He was the singer (cantor) for the Black Drink ceremony.

It's not the concentration of black drink that caused vomiting. It was voluntary purging to make room for more of the decoction. I suggest you try to drink a decoction of yaupon, a strong as you can manage, and tell me if it makes you vomit. I have tried that on an empty stomach many times, with no urge to vomit. There is so much incorrect information around this, so I was surprised at this conclusion since your video is otherwise pretty well-researched. In Cabeza de Vaca's account of the black drink ceremony in Texas in the 1530's he states that each individual drank 4-5 gallons of black drink per day. That amount is impossible unless one vomits in between. Even a strong decoction of yaupon is relatively weak, and large amounts were necessary to attain stronger effects. Rather than boiling down into a syrup, which your video says was done, to attain a more concentrated form, the foam on top of the boiling decoction was skimmed off (which Dr. Putz briefly mentions). It's like the espresso of yaupon. I have personally tried all of these methods myself, drink yaupon daily, and have been researching American Indian ethnobotany for over a decade as a professional biologist. But a strong liquid decoction was drunk, not any concentrated syrup (although there are many versions of the black drink ceremony and some tribe may have evaporated the drink down to a sludge, it doesn't form a syrup at all). It's true that a ritual or ceremonial purging was a common practice among American Indians, but in the case of when yaupon was used as the purgative, it is mostly a result of the huge volumes that were drunk, not any phytochemical emetic. Sometimes other ingredients were added to black drink in order to actually make the drink emetic. Also, Ilex cassine has trace amounts of caffeine, so Ilex vomitoria is technically not the only caffeinated plant in the U.S. And finally, making yaupon like regular tea is a great way to get no effects and prevent people from continuing to use it. You should directly boil a large amount of the dried / toasted and crushed leaves, strain, and drink it.

American black cherry tree should try them out the bark and the seeds they have beautiful wood we do that for lumber.

This is a great video! I have 10 acres in Florida and I'm starting a natives and edibles nursery as well as covering the property in a food forest. I have this stuff growing wild as well here and it really does grow "everywhere" hahaha. The awesome thing is, we also have tons of other native edibles on property from pawpaws, maypop passion fruit, dewberries, prickly pear, beautyberry, muscadine grapes, and the list literally goes on! I just found your channel and subscribed, and looking forward to checking out more of your content! 🥳

I have 2 large yaupon holly trees at each of the front corners of my house. I knew they could be made into a caffeinated tea but did not know about the other alkaloids in them with health benefits. Thank you for the video.

This tree has a close lookalike in Chinese privet/Ligustrum sinense which lacks the serrated leaves. The Ligustrum is very invasive, but also makes very fragrant flowers and is very easy to pull up. Great biomass accumulator or kindling source due to the witch's brooms it makes. I haven't had coffee or tea in years. It turned out that not being addicted to stimulants is better than tasty beverages.

I really appreciate you making this video. I've been aware of Yaupon Holly for a while, but I've still yet to try it. I'd love to know more about it's ceremonial use, but I did want to share: Yaupon Holly is everywhere in my area. It's very commonly used as landscaping, and it's really funny to me that the largest concentration I'm aware of is planted all around a local coffee shop. It feels almost like the plant is rebelling or trying to send a message to those of us that know.

I've been meaning to check my yard and neighborhood for yaupon hollies and a few other plants, and this gives me more motivation to do it. I only knew of it as a multipurpose ceremonial drink after boiling down and had no idea of all the health benefits. So thanks.

Going to harvest and make a pot right now. I had no idea this stuff was useful! I spend weeks every year fighting it all back. I'm happy to live in balance rather than conflict with my environment - thank you!