Coca Tea

Particularly popular in the highlands and Andes mountains of the travel wonder of Peru, coca tea provokes some controversy and reaction. Simply made by adding hot (but not boiling) water to a handful of coca leaves, the drink has the grassy botanical taste of many herbal teas with the slight bitterness of traditional green tea.

To listen to a local, the tea takes on the medicinal qualities of Tiger Balm soothing and salving any number of complaints and ailments. Many claim that it eases the headaches, improves sleep and reduces the other side effects of altitude sickness. Hardly robust scientific proof, but I drank it both crossing the high pass (4,800 metres) to Colca Canyon (while watched by a pet condor) and walking the Inca Trail, without any effects of altitude.

Similarly to mint tea in Morocco, it is a drink of welcome. I was offered a small cup at two different modest hotels and it is available both as bags of leaves and in tea bags (under the Inka brand, for one) in the various markets. According to other travellers, the US and European customs allow the tea bags to be bought into the country (Australia won’t accept it on agricultural protection grounds).

In the villages of Peru and around Cusco, many of the local population chew coca leaves (similar to chewing tobacco, I guess), munching heartily on a wad of leaves. Several porters walking the Inca Trail indulged, spitting the exhausted leaves out before ingesting another handful from their pockets.

The cultivation of the leaves is controversial as the pharmacologically active ingredient in the leaves is (less than 0.2% in each leaf) used in the manufacture of cocaine. At best, consumed in a herbal tea, coca leaves are an extremely mild stimulant.

The selling of coca leaves is strongly debated across Peru with its strong historic, cultural and ceremonial heritage in contrast to the modern human toll that the drug cocaine has inflicted. The stigma associated with coca leaves has caused some issues when dealing with foreign powers, though Coca-Cola is reputed to continue to use coca leaves in their world famous drink.

In the vein of trying local products, I can recommend trying coca tea in a small Peruvian cafe. While the grassy taste is hardly exciting, it is a relaxing, warming and social drink polular throughout the Andes and it may even provide relief from the heights of this mountainous country.