Yaupon A Coffee Replacement

Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) is an evergreen shrub native to the southeastern United States. Yaupon isn't going to fill your belly, but it can help you get your coffee fix in the morning to help get you going. Yaupon can be identified by the small white flowers it produces in the spring. Which later turn into thousands of small red berries per plant. The berries ripen in the fall.

The berries, however, are NOT what you will utilize, hence the scientific name vomitoria. Avoid the toxic berries. Surprisingly, it is the small leaves that will provide you with your caffeine fix. The leaves are very small and have scalloped edges arranged in an alternating manner. See pic below.

To use the plant you must make tea. The leaves contain more caffeine than coffee beans. Yaupon is high in antioxidants. The tea is actually not very bitter.

Be careful, if the tea is made too strong it also can cause vomiting. This isn't some weak ass substitute you might expect from a natural substitute for something.

To make the tea collect the live leaves. The leaves can be used freshly picked or after roasting and stored. The Native Americans and early settlers would parch the leaves over a fire until brown... NOT BURNT. If storing the tea leaves for later use, place in a sealed jar if possible.

To make the tea, steep a few leaves in a cup of hot water for a few minutes. Experiment. The more leaves, the less time it takes.