Coca is a popular herbal plant in Peru and Bolivia that is often turned into an herbal tea.
Chewing coca leaves or consuming mate de coca will give you a boost of energy and help avoid altitude sickness, which makes the plant especially popular for Andes climbers. But what if you want to make it at home?
Mate de coca is tea made from coca plant leaves. The raw or dried leaves are cut, placed in a teabag, and steeped in hot water. Pre-Incan Indians used coca leaves as a stimulant to overcome fatigue, alleviate pain, and treat altitude sickness. Mate de coca is a very popular tea in Peru and Bolivia.
Read on to learn more about mate de coca, the history of mate de coca, and how this popular Peruvian beverage is made.
What Is Mate de Coca?
Mate de coca, also widely known as coca tea, is a herbal tea made from the plant of coca leaves.
The coca leaves are cut and stored in a teabag, which is then steeped in hot water.
In Peru, the herbal beverage is used to treat altitude sickness and help with digestion.
In South American countries, primarily Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, the drink is sold in many bars, street carts, and grocery stores.
The herbal beverage has a greenish/yellow hue when fully steeped and is slightly bitter, similar to green tea.
Traditionally, the drink is served with the whole leaves loosely in hot water without teabags.
You then either remove the leaves or continue to drink through them.
Coca leaves contain alkaloids, which are naturally occurring psychoactive compounds that temporarily boost the body and mind when mixed with hot water.
You might recognize coca leaves as the plant that can make the drug cocaine when processed with other chemicals.
For this reason, it is actually illegal in the United States. To consume it in America, the leaves need to be decocainized.
Though the herbal tea is nowhere close to the drug, a cup of brewed coca tea can contain approximately 4 mg (0.0001 oz) of organic coca alkaloid.
This might take your body a longer time to absorb, but you may find that it will show up on a drug test.
History About Mate de Coca
Mummies dating back more than 3,000 years have been discovered with traces of coca.
The archeological evidence of mummies found with coca leaves and pottery depicting the cheek bulge of a coca chewer shows that the consumption of coca dates to at least the sixth century A.D. Mochetime period.
The coca plant, which is chewed or brewed for tea, is a popular daily activity in the Andes and is considered a sacred ritual among indigenous communities.
Coca leaves have been used as a stimulant for many centuries and are typically grown at lower altitudes on the Andes’ eastern slopes or in the highlands.
The leaves were a valuable trading product between the lowlands where it is cultivated and the higher altitudes where it is commonly consumed by Peruvian, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Venezuelan, and Bolivian Andean populations.
Coca tea is fully legal in Peru and in South America, where you can purchase the leaves alongside other types of tea in every store.
Since its import is banned, you won’t find coca tea in any shop in the United States or any other country but South America.
How To Make Mate de Coca
Mate de coca is usually grown on farms in the Andes, where the plants can mature in 12 to 24 months.
When the plants are ready, the leaves are generally harvested by men, and women usually process them.
The conventional method is very time-consuming. The coca leaves are shaken to dry after being placed in a woven bag with hot rocks.
When the coca leaves are dry, they are spread out on a table or placed on top of cloth away from sunshine to air dry until the leaves are ready for consumption.
Conclusion
Mate de coca is a tea used by ancient pre-Incan civilizations to remedy hunger, fatigue, and altitude sickness.
While most people may be more familiar with the drug cocaine made from coca leaves, mate de coca is a popular way people consume coca leaves still today.
While drying coca leaves for mate de coca is labor-intensive and time-consuming, many people from South American countries enjoy the finished product.
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.