DRINKS Yaupon Tea The mellow-buzz brew that once fueled Native Americans is making a comeback. CATSPRING YAUPON/USED WITH PERMISSION 229 It’s an undisputed fact that the United States is a coffee country: American adults average three cups every day. But that wasn’t always the case. Before the arrival of Columbus, indigenous Americans’ caffeinated beverage of choice was a holly-based tea known as cassina. Also known as yaupon, cassina is a close relative of the popular South American holly-based tea, yerba maté. Both dark brown drinks have an herbaceous, complex flavor and a mild, jitter-less buzz. And yet, yerba maté has survived, and thrived,...
Orlando Sentinel - October 16, 2016 Joy Wallace Dickinson Florida Flashback I recently saw a humorous birthday card depicting a woman of a certain age, wrapped in a fuzzy bathrobe, who appears poised to pour an entire pot of coffee directly into her mouth. As a shameless caffeine addict, I could relate. And I loved learning about the revival of a caffeine-rich drink with roots deep in Florida's history: yaupon holly tea. "It's the only caffeinated plant native to North America," says Bryon White, who with his brother, Kyle, reintroduced centuries-old yaupon tea into Florida commerce in 2012 for...
Florida Friendly Plant of the Week: Yaupon Holly LILLY BROWNING Lilly Browning is the Hernando County Florida Friendly Landscaping Program Coordinator Yaupon Holly, Ilex vomitoria, is a great native plant that can be used as a shrub or as a small, specimen tree. They have tiny leaves and produce white, spring through summer flowers. The red fruit provides food for wildlife in the late fall and into the winter. It will grow 15-30 feet tall and 6-20 feet wide. They prefer wet or partially moist soil. They enjoy a sunny to partial sunny location in the landscape. They have a...
Yaupon Brothers is purchasing twelve acres of land in Volusia County, Florida for use as a Yaupon farm. Stay tuned to our webpage to keep apprised of our progress!