Yaupon tea

Common card · No. 234054

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 caffeinated beverages originally brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States and later adopted by Europeans and European Americans. 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 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 rituals, including purification ceremonies, by Yuchi, Caddo, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee, Timucua, Chitimacha and other Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands such as the Quapaw. Jean-Bernard Bossu describes being served cassine in a gourd by the Akansas (Quapaw) during a ceremonial meal. Furthermore...

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