Coca tea

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Coca tea, also called mate de coca, is a tisane (tea) made using the leaves of the coca plant. It is made either by submerging the coca leaf or dipping a tea bag in hot water. The tea originates from the Andes mountain range, particularly Peru.

The leaves of the coca plant contain several alkaloids including cocaine<ref name="combol">Coca leaves not hallucinogenic - Comunidad Boliviana in Argentina (Spanish)</ref>; in fact, they comprise the sources for cocaine's chemical production, though the amount of cocaine in the leaves is small, around 0.001%<ref name="combol" />, in order to make a kilo of cocaine more than 100 kilograms of coca leaves are needed<ref name="mindsurf">Cocaina (Spanish).</ref><ref>How To Make Cocaine HCl.</ref>.

Owing to the presence of the stimulant alkaloids, the coca tea provides a source of energy simillar to coffee. The tea is often sold commercially in filtering bags, each of which usually contains approximately one gram of the leaf. As coffee can be decaffeinated, the coca tea can also be decocainized; however, after undergoing such a process it will still contain a minute quantity of the drug (5 milligrams per tea-bag)<ref name = "potplant">Erythroxylum Cataractarum - cocaine.org.</ref>. When the cocaine is removed, the amount of cocaine is small enough for the product to legally sell in the USA according to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. In the 1980's the tea was used to wean cocaine addicts off of the drug<ref name="potplant"/>.

The coca plant comprises four main species and varieties of Erythroxylum coca, often spelled koka in Quechua and Aymara, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to northwestern South America.

Note that though also known as mate, the mate de coca is not drunk through a straw like with mate of yerba mate, but as a tea.

1 Classification and Nomenclature
2 Characteristics
3 Chemical Composition
4 In South American Culture
- 4.1 Medicinal Use
- 4.2 Tourism
5 See further
6 References
7 External links
8 Photos

[edit] Classification and Nomenclature

Coca tea comes from the coca plant, which has the biological name Erythroxylum coca and is from the family Erythroxylaceae. It is often called "la Hoja de Coca" (the leaf of coca) or Coca del Peru (coca of Peru).

[edit] Characteristics

Coca Tea is a natural product. The tea preserves all of the physical-chemical properties of the coca leaf. The product fulfills the Technical Peruvian Standard and can be sold nationally, although such use is being discouraged (in part by the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs).

The tea is greenish yellow color, and has a lightly bitter taste.

[edit] Chemical Composition

The chemical composition of coca tea is roughly as follows^{[citation needed]}:

	Coca Leaf	Coca Tea (1)
Humidity, g%	9.21	99.8
Dry abstract, g%	0.79	0.2
Etheral abstract, g%	4.53	0.004
Carbohydrates, g%	49.72	0.03
Protein total (N x 6.25), g%	18.75	0.004
Digestible protein (N x 6.25), g%	12.50	0.0455
Raw Fiber, g%	13.00	---
Ashes, g%	7.68	0.019
Sand and Silica, g%	1.55	0.593
Caroteno, mg%	42.43	0.03
Thiamin, mg%	0.16	0.0004
Riboflavin, mg%	0.88	0.004
Vitamin C, mg%	16.70	0.05
Niacin, mg%	26.00	0.05
Calcium, mg%	1550.70	0.065
Phosphor, mg%	209.70	0.042
Iron, mg%	4.20	0.015
Sodium, mg%	0.59	0.001
Potassium, mg%	0.96	0.004
Copper, μg/g	0.138	0.0570
Zinc, μg/g	0.105	0.0913
Manganese, μg/g	0.641	0.1303
Selenium, μg/g	0.629	---
Alkaloids total¹, g%	0.821	0.003
Cocaine, g%	0.738*	0.0024*

(1) The results are expressed for 100 grams of original sign of coca leaves.

(2) The results expressed by 100 ml. of infusion, ( a filtering envelope of approximately 1 gram 200 ml of boiling water, and rest of 5 minutes ).

(**) Protocolo Number PO286/93. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Técnica Cromatografía Gaseosa, Detector NPD.

¹Alkaloids<ref>Benefits of coca tea</ref>: Egnonin, Pectin, Papaine, Hygrine, Globuline, Pyridine, Quinoline, ,Conine, Cocamine, Reserpine, Benzoyne, Inuline, Atropine.

[edit] In South American Culture

[edit] Medicinal Use

Coca tea consumption is a common in many South American countries. Many indigenous tribes of the Andes mountain range also use the tea for medicinal and religious purposes<ref>Substances that produce addiction - University of Buenos Aires (Spanish).</ref><ref name="mindsurf" />.

The consumption of Coca tea, as well as chewing the leaves, increases the absorption of oxygen in blood, which helps combat altitude sickness, and has a marked digestive and carminative action<ref name="combol"/>.

[edit] Tourism

On the "Inca Trail" to Machu Picchu, guides usually serve coca tea with every meal because it is widely believed to alleviate the symptoms of altitude sickness.<ref>What's the best way to prevent altitude sickness? </ref><ref>Altitude Sickness - Soroche, Cusco by Virtual Tourist </ref><ref>PERUherbals, a commercial website</ref>

Traditionally, official governmental persons travelling to La Paz in Bolivia, located at almost 4,000 meters above mean sea level, are greeted with a mate de coca. News reports noted that Princess Anne and the late Pope John Paul II were served the beverage during their visits to the country.