Amazing work and a super exciting project to explore. Just think of the economic imbalances caused by the trade of tea between China and England, and the resulting misery and suffering of war, could have been avoided if some plucky plant breeder in the British Isles bred a local source of caffeinated beverages.
Here in Ecuador, Ilex guayusa is commonly dried and then boiled, with sugar and lemon added to taste. A very common indigenous drink, guayusa. High in caffeine. A beautiful small tree with large leaves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex_guayusa
Here, the leaves are folded and strung into garlands. These are dried or sometimes lightly smoked. (We were just gifted a ggarland recently.) Then the leaves are boiled for a while, removed, and citrus and sugar are added as desired. No foofy tea bags for our indigenous peoples!
What strange synchronicity is this! Just this monday I was researching the possibility of growing I. vomitoria in Norway. I have a dream of growing my own caffeinated hot beverage, something I've been thinking about since I first tasted I. paraguariensis. Funny how plants make us do things. As you say, it could start a revolution!
I'll be following your Ilex experiments with great interest. If nothing else, it sounds like I. aquifolium has the potential to make a tasty decaf tea.
This article has a brilliant hypothesis for the botanical name of Yaupon:
"There have been compelling suggestions that—when the renowned Scottish botanist, William Aiton, overrode Carolus Linnaeus and slapped the name “vomitoria” on to the Yaupon binomial in the 1700s— it may have been the result of fraternal, nationalistic, or financial biases bent toward the interests of the East India Trading Company. Yah see, it is said that Aiton had financial ties to the East India Trading Company, and the East India Trading Company was in no rush to promote a caffeinated beverage to disrupt its very lucrative traditional tea trade… especially not a beverage found in territories belonging to France and Spain. Even still, lacking a glue strong enough to cement the words plausible and truth together, we can only acknowledge the assertion has an undeniable ring of truthiness to it."
I want to believe it's true.
(If you wonder what Yaupon means, it's "tree with leaves" in Catawban. This plant is cursed when it comes to naming.)
And this 5 star review from Bishop Nathaniel Holmes in 1878:
"Ah, good indeed to get away from city folks, with their stuck-up manners and queer ways, a-fauIt-finding when you stick your knife in your mouth in place of your fork, and a-feeding you on China tea in place of dear old yaupon. Charles, you can't reckon how I longs to get a cup of good yaupon."
"Dr. William A. Morrill. a plant PhD, wrote in 1940 there are two ways to make holly tea. One is to boil the cured leaves like coffee, not seep them like tea. (Cured means oven dried or steamed.) But, of the Yaupon, he said the best holly tea was to use an equal mix of chopped brown dry roasted and steamed green leaves (remember you must dry them first, then roast or steam.) I got his information from a crumbling, out-of-print book. Only you and I know it. While Yaupon Holly tea does have a lot of caffeine it is practically free of tannin, which reduces bitterness considerably. It is also full of antioxidants which are good for you."
And on the different varieties, such as:
"The form of I. vomitoria that has the most caffeine is the Weeping Holly or Ilex vomitoria var. pendula. Feeding it nitrogen also increase the amount of caffeine."
My I. vomitoria seeds are held up in customs, but should be released now that I've submitted documentation. I hope they'll survive! EFN sends whole berries.
My plan is to grow some in a warm spot outside, some in an unheated greenhouse and some in pots for overwintering in my living room.
Amazing work and a super exciting project to explore. Just think of the economic imbalances caused by the trade of tea between China and England, and the resulting misery and suffering of war, could have been avoided if some plucky plant breeder in the British Isles bred a local source of caffeinated beverages.
Yes that's right. Would be one amazing alternate history story...
Here in Ecuador, Ilex guayusa is commonly dried and then boiled, with sugar and lemon added to taste. A very common indigenous drink, guayusa. High in caffeine. A beautiful small tree with large leaves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex_guayusa
I will need to look up how I. guayusa is processed into tea and see if I can do the same for English holly.
Here, the leaves are folded and strung into garlands. These are dried or sometimes lightly smoked. (We were just gifted a ggarland recently.) Then the leaves are boiled for a while, removed, and citrus and sugar are added as desired. No foofy tea bags for our indigenous peoples!
Thank you!
What strange synchronicity is this! Just this monday I was researching the possibility of growing I. vomitoria in Norway. I have a dream of growing my own caffeinated hot beverage, something I've been thinking about since I first tasted I. paraguariensis. Funny how plants make us do things. As you say, it could start a revolution!
I did find a report of someone having success with Yaupon in Pennsylvania (https://growingfruit.org/t/yaupon-for-cold-climates/17365/28), giving me hope that it might survive the mild coastal climate of southern Norway. The same thread also mentions that someone from Experimental Farm Network was going to cross it with I. glabra (Gallberry) in an attempt to improve its hardiness (https://growingfruit.org/t/yaupon-for-cold-climates/17365/17). I don't know if they were successful, they only sell seeds of I. vomitoria (https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/yaupon-holly). Strangely, I never considered crossing it with I. aquifolium which grows just outside my door! Shows I'm not a botanist :)
I'll be following your Ilex experiments with great interest. If nothing else, it sounds like I. aquifolium has the potential to make a tasty decaf tea.
Hey that's interesting. Plant breeding is fascinating to me, creating something alien out of something more mundane.
I do like serendipity. I encourage you in your research and experiments as well!
Two links from my research…
https://www.pullupyourplants.com/archive/yaupon
This article has a brilliant hypothesis for the botanical name of Yaupon:
"There have been compelling suggestions that—when the renowned Scottish botanist, William Aiton, overrode Carolus Linnaeus and slapped the name “vomitoria” on to the Yaupon binomial in the 1700s— it may have been the result of fraternal, nationalistic, or financial biases bent toward the interests of the East India Trading Company. Yah see, it is said that Aiton had financial ties to the East India Trading Company, and the East India Trading Company was in no rush to promote a caffeinated beverage to disrupt its very lucrative traditional tea trade… especially not a beverage found in territories belonging to France and Spain. Even still, lacking a glue strong enough to cement the words plausible and truth together, we can only acknowledge the assertion has an undeniable ring of truthiness to it."
I want to believe it's true.
(If you wonder what Yaupon means, it's "tree with leaves" in Catawban. This plant is cursed when it comes to naming.)
And this 5 star review from Bishop Nathaniel Holmes in 1878:
"Ah, good indeed to get away from city folks, with their stuck-up manners and queer ways, a-fauIt-finding when you stick your knife in your mouth in place of your fork, and a-feeding you on China tea in place of dear old yaupon. Charles, you can't reckon how I longs to get a cup of good yaupon."
https://www.eattheweeds.com/hollies-caffein-antioxidants/
This one has useful info on preparing holly tea:
"Dr. William A. Morrill. a plant PhD, wrote in 1940 there are two ways to make holly tea. One is to boil the cured leaves like coffee, not seep them like tea. (Cured means oven dried or steamed.) But, of the Yaupon, he said the best holly tea was to use an equal mix of chopped brown dry roasted and steamed green leaves (remember you must dry them first, then roast or steam.) I got his information from a crumbling, out-of-print book. Only you and I know it. While Yaupon Holly tea does have a lot of caffeine it is practically free of tannin, which reduces bitterness considerably. It is also full of antioxidants which are good for you."
And on the different varieties, such as:
"The form of I. vomitoria that has the most caffeine is the Weeping Holly or Ilex vomitoria var. pendula. Feeding it nitrogen also increase the amount of caffeine."
Thanks for this. I will need to try various methods for processing the leaves.
I've come across a video that has me excited about roasting the leaves:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PfeHY10pWYQ
The full interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcWnyvKiNQg
My I. vomitoria seeds are held up in customs, but should be released now that I've submitted documentation. I hope they'll survive! EFN sends whole berries.
My plan is to grow some in a warm spot outside, some in an unheated greenhouse and some in pots for overwintering in my living room.
I've been doing some experiments with making Ilex aquifolium tea, I'll do a write up for my next post, so stay tuned
There are other sources in german you might be interested in, look at the sources within the articles:
https://www.naturzyt.ch/natur-erfahren/wildpflanzen-und-wildkraeuter/311-die-stechpalme-heilpflanze-der-alten-kraeuterkundigen.html
https://www.henriettes-herb.com/eclectic/madaus/ilex.html