Coca tea, also called mate de coca, is a tisane (herbal 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. Show
The leaves of the coca plant contain several alkaloids including cocaine; in fact, they comprise the sources for cocaine's chemical production, though the amount of cocaine in the leaves is so small, around 0.2%, that in order to make a gram of cocaine, 500 grams of coca leaves would be needed. Owing to the presence of the stimulant alkaloids, the coca tea provides a source of energy similar 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. Just like "decaf" coffee does retain a minute quantity of caffiene, "decocanized" coca tea will still contain a minute quantity of the drug. 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 1980s the tea was used to wean cocaine addicts off of the drug. 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. 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. Additional recommended knowledgeClassification and NomenclatureCoca 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). CharacteristicsCoca 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 flavor, somewhat similar to that of green tea but with a slightly more naturally sweet taste. In South American CultureMedicinal UseCoca tea consumption is common in many South American countries. Many indigenous tribes of the Andes mountain range also use the tea for medicinal and religious purposes. 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. TourismOn 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. Traditionally, official governmental persons traveling 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.[citation needed] See further
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Coca_tea". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. Coca is a sacred plant in countries like Peru and Bolivia, and it’s easy to see why. Chewing coca leaves or drinking coca tea can give you an energy boost and is traditionally believed to help prevent altitude sickness. It also has a number of traditional medicinal uses, including as an anesthetic and analgesic. If you’re traveling in Peru, you can freely try both forms of imbibing coca. It is, after all, completely legal. (Follow this link for more info about illegal and legal drugs in Peru.) But if you might take a drug test when you get back home — as part of a job interview process or random workplace screening, for example — be careful (in the USA, 40% to 50% of all employers perform some kind of drug screening). Chewing coca leaves and drinking coca tea can both result in a positive drug test for cocaine. Drinking Coca TeaCoca tea is the most common way of consuming coca, at least among tourists in Peru. It’s completely legal: many hotels freely supply coca tea bags, and trekking guides often prepare fresh coca tea by seeping the leaves in boiling water (an authentic mate de coca). Coca tea is a mild stimulant. The alkaloids found in coca leaves are the same used to ultimately produce cocaine. But you won’t feel much from drinking one, two or even three cups of coca tea — maybe a slight buzz, but nothing more than drinking the same amount of strong coffee. Coca tea bags can be decocainized (yes, that’s a real word), but you rarely find them in Peru or Bolivia. Coca Tea and Drug Tests: What the Studies SayBefore you start sipping coca tea at every opportunity, be aware that it can result in a positive drug test. If there’s any chance you might have a drug test when you get back home, then you should avoid coca tea (and coca leaves) altogether, just to be safe. A number of studies have tested the levels of cocaine metabolites in urine tests, and the results are similar. In “Identification and quantitation of alkaloids in coca tea,” Jenkins, Llosa, Montoya and Cone concluded:
Mazor et al. in “Coca tea consumption causes positive urine cocaine assay,” found similar results. After drinking coca tea, three out of five of their study participants’ samples remained positive for cocaine at 36 hours. A study for Problems of Forensic Sciences also found that participants who drank just one cup of coca tea screened positive for up to 36 hours (this being the limit of the test). Participants drinking two cups all remained positive at the 36 hour mark. A study conducted by the Jockey Club of Great Britain and published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine also found that just a single tea bag of mate de coca contains “a significant amount of cocaine” and can result in a positive test for at least 24 hours following ingestion. style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4038165087345825" data-ad-slot="6934623720" data-ad-format="auto"> Examples of Positive Drug Test Results After Drinking Coca TeaIt’s not hard to find real life examples of people testing positive for cocaine and then claiming (correctly of otherwise) that coca tea was to blame. In 2001, a woman working at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois tested positive for cocaine after a random drug test. The woman and her husband had previously been to Peru to adopt a baby. When the baby became ill, the doctor in Lima gave them some coca tea bags for the baby to drink. The woman began drinking them too, and continued ordering them while back home. In this case, the drug test result was overturned and the woman was reinstated. In 2010, a probationary cop was fired from the NYPD after testing positive for cocaine. He claimed that his girlfriend’s mother had given him mate de coca after he was in a car accident, which caused the positive result. He was not reinstated. In 2013, Ashley Beardsley, 23, of Long Neck, Delaware lost her job at the American Veterans Post. She tested positive for cocaine, but claimed her Peruvian coca tea was to blame. Her requests for a follow up test were denied. Claiming that coca tea is the reason for a positive cocaine result seems to fall on deaf ears quite frequently. For the U.S. Department of Transportation, it’s officially no excuse at all. As its drug policy clearly states:
There’s also the now infamous case of Peruvian footballer Paolo Guerrero, who was finally given a 14 month suspension after testing positive for cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine in 2017. Guerrero claims he unknowingly drank coca tea in a hotel in Lima, and maintains his innocence. The suspension ruled him out of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.  Bags of coca leaves — and coca toffees — on sale in San Pedro Market, Cusco (photo by Tony Dunnell) Chewing Coca Leaves and Drug Test ResultsWhile it’s relatively easy to find legitimate studies on coca tea and drug tests, less research seems to exist regarding chewing coca leaves. Not so many tourists in Peru and Bolivia chew coca leaves — at least, not properly, like a true Andean local. A brief chew on a leaf or two does next to nothing, and would likely release far less cocaine metabolites than a cup of coca tea. But when chewed “properly,” the effects of coca leaf are far more notable than three or even four cups of tea. With a good wodge of coca leaves tucked into your cheek, and using llipta to activate the alkaloids, you can feel quite a buzz and the side of your head can start to go numb. Various types of llipta (or llipt’a) exist in different regions of Peru. In the highlands it’s often made from the ashes of the quinoa plant. A tiny amount is added to the coca leaves, improving alkaloid extraction when chewing. You can normally buy llipta at the same markets that sell fresh coca leaves. I haven’t been able to find any studies to prove this assumption, but I imagine that chewing coca leaves in the traditional manner would easily trigger a positive drug test for cocaine. You have been warned… Are Coca Leaves and Coca Tea Bags Illegal Outside South America?Coca tea is legal in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador and Chile, but illegal in many countries outside South America. You are not allowed to bring coca leaves into the USA. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “It is illegal to bring coca leaves into the U.S. for any purpose, including to use for brewing tea or for chewing.” While not so clearly stated, it is also illegal to bring coca tea into the USA. A 2016 document by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that coca leaves and any salt, compound, derivative or preparation of coca leaves is a controlled substance and is illegal in the United States. A “preparation of coca leaves” presumably includes coca tea as well as coca toffees and candies (also widely available in Peru). Coca tea bags can be decocainized (yes, that’s a real word), and are therefore legal in the USA. You won’t find decocainized coca tea bags in Peru or Bolivia. Coca leaves and tea bags are also banned in the United Kingdom. The www.gov.uk entry for Peru clearly states: “Don’t take coca leaves or coca tea out of the country. It’s illegal to import these items into the UK.” |
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