I always wanted to write an article about Coca tea and Coca tea
culture in Bolivia, Peru and around South America. But, the truth is,
I am very bad in writing. I can easily deal with thousand pages of
financial spreadsheet but writing a page memo is a punishment to me.
Anyway, here I go with my bad writing skill.

The consumption of coca tea is a common occurrence in many South
American countries. The tea is often packaged in individual servings
as tea bags which contain approximately 1 g of plant material.

Coca tea is an illegal drink in the US but officially we are allowed
to drink it here for health reason. La Paz, Bolivia, that touches the
sky, is an apt description. Located high above sea level, La Paz sits
in a bowl surrounded by the high altiplano. La Paz as it grows climbs
the hills resulting in varying elevations from 3000 to 4100 m. or
almost 13,000 feet. Overlooking the city is towering triple-peaked
Illimani, always snow covered and majestic. Two years ago, when I
arrived here, I felt light headed, couldn't breath normally,
struggling with bad headache, couldn't sleep because of the high
altitude where the oxygen layer is very thin. I felt awful and coming
from Washington DC's sea level made my life more difficult. The
Embassy left an oxygen cylinder and I was taking oxygen in every hour.
One of my local Bolivian colleague came to visit me with some Coca tea
bags. Before coming here, I start taking Diamox(is a medication that
forces the kidneys to excrete bicarbonate, the base form of carbon
dioxide, this re-acidifies the blood, balancing the effects of the
hyperventilation that occurs at altitude in an attempt to get oxygen).
However, It wasn't working for me. I called our medical unit and they
start considering me to sent back to Florida for a medical evacuation.
I was frustrated because I never compromised with any kind of hardship
political or environmental situation overseas. Once, the medical unite
informed me that Coca Tea helps and it is legal to consume this tea in
Bolivia, moreover, our Embassy will not take any legal action against
me for drinking coca tea. It is not a drug until it has been processed
with some other chemicals as a cocaine. I start drinking Coca tea and
with in 7 days my body start adjusting with the high altitude. I have
lost 40 lbs here because of little sleep which was pretty good because
I gained few extra pounds in Africa and in the US during my 4 months
of heavy food and Starbucks latte bad habits. Anyway, Coca tea saved
my life and I agree this is a proper drink for the Bolivians and for
some Peruvians. The world famous Inca ruin Machu Pichu is 15,000 feet
above sea level and the Peruvian city Cusco is also almost 12,000
feet. Coca tea is part of their daily life and people use it as a
medicine.

A huge debate between the US Government and some South American
countries is well known. DEA(Drugs Enforcement Agency) working around
latin America to eradicate Coca plants. However, specially Bolivian
point of view is- Coca leaves is part of their heritage and culture.
Coca leaves had never been a drug issue here because they didn't
invent cocaine. Coca leaves are like any other leaves until you
process it as cocaine. Hard debate and no straight forward answer to
it. I am not interested to talk about politics here rather than the
fact about Coca tea.

Taste:

Well, it is really smelly, heavily salty but full bodied hot drinks.
As a result, I end up drinking more Trimate which is a combination of
Coca leave, Mate Vana(I will write about Yerba Mate Vana tea culture
some other time) and Chamomile. Many Bolivians simply chew Coca leaves
for extra energy and this coca leaf truly gives extra energy and kills
regular apatite.

History:

History indicates that the Spanish encouraged the local indigenous
people to chew Coca leaves so they didn't have to provide them full
bowl of rice or other food. Slavery and Coca leave history goes hand
in hand in Latin slavery history. Moreover, they were able to work
longer hours. In some certain extend, I believe it but don't agree
with it.

My personal experience and view:

During my stay in South America, one of my plan was to visit major
Aztec, Maya(Mexico, Guatemala), Inca(Peru, Bolivia) and Tiwanaco
(Bolivia) ruins and understand their culture and about these empires.
Tiwanaco was the oldest then the Maya and Inca civilizations built
their own might and huge empire. Though they are all part of the same
people, however, the Inca empire was the largest, most powerful and
won the largest geographic land. All of us must know about the golden
"El Dorado" Inca city. Spanish never found it but still people believe
El Dorado exists somewhere in between Peru and Bolivia. I have
collected many replicas during my stay in South America. What a
impressive history and culture which proudly existed from 1000 to 1572
according to many locals. The Spanish destroyed many major pyramids
and places except the Peruvian machu Pichu because it was hidden
15,000 feet above sea level during the Spanish colonial period until
an American explorer discovered it. The worst part is, if you ever
visit Machu Pichu, you would see how the Spanish built many churches
on top of many Inca establishment and used the stones from many Inca
ruins.

Sorry, I couldn't resist to share this information. Officially, the
perfect clock was invented by the Arab Muslims but I was informed the
Aztec calendar clock has been 5 seconds more precise than the Arab's
clock. Well, every culture wants to proof their superiority but I got
a replica curved on stone. It is beautiful and I couldn't figure it
out how to read the Aztec clock calender. So, I still take the Arab's
side which is more scientifically proven.

Now, back to the Coca tea. The reason, I mentioned little history
because, after visiting all these Tiwanaco, Aztec, Inca, Maya and
other ruins, pyramids, palaces I have discovered a very interesting
thing. All of those civilizations had excellent skill to curve stone
in different shapes and I found curved Coca leaves all of these
places. That gives me a sense that the Coca leave culture existed
before the Spanish arrival around Latin America. It was a regular
ceremonial item as well as a drinks. As a proof, I just bought a stone
curved local God "Pachamama" or "Mother Earth" statue which is a
replica with curved of Coca leaves, anaconda, jaguar and eagle.

I am very sad to leave South America because I will miss their rich
history, classic and stylish capital cities, good food and mostly the
wonderful people. In the US, many(not all) of us possess very negative
image about South America. The truth is, it is very middle class with
dynamic economy. Some parts of South America is fully developed.
People are simply wonderful, friendly and very curious about the
United States, However, the recent trend is- they are trying to get
out from heavy US influence and successfully united their political
differences. I don't believe, all the Latin American political leaders
are like Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correra or Morales. They have great
leadership in Peru, Brazil Chile and other. Once, I fell in love with
Africa and again I am in love with South America. The worst part in my
life is leaving my great friends behind but I am also lucky and proud
to have their genuine friendship which will last forever.

I am enjoying some free time and would love to talk more about my tea
journey in latin America and the tea culture.

Ripon
La Paz, Bolivia

It's great to hear your voice here again, Ripon!

One thing I was fascinated to learn was that traditional coca leaf use
in Latin America is *not* limited to highland areas. It's too bad you
never found a form of manufactured coca leaf that tasted good enough
that it didn't demand masking by other flavors. When I think about
the extremely wide range of techniques that are used for manufacturing
tea, though, that hardly seems inevitable. Maybe it's just hard to
muster the creativity and discipline needed in an industry that has to
keep looking over its shoulder because the cops or the DEA might be
approaching? I'm assuming you never had a chance to try, say, heavily
roasted coca oolong...

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Thanks Lew. The whole coca leaf issue is complicated. Once, I thought
to roast coca leaves as Keemun Hao Ya style but I am not allowed to
buy loose coca leaves from the market but can drink coca tea bag. What
do you think?

Well, I prefer to talk about this issue more face to face-

Ripon
La Paz, Bolivia

On May 26, 7:23*am, Lewis Perin > wrote:
> It's great to hear your voice here again, Ripon!
>
> One thing I was fascinated to learn was that traditional coca leaf use
> in Latin America is *not* limited to highland areas. *It's too bad you
> never found a form of manufactured coca leaf that tasted good enough
> that it didn't demand masking by other flavors. *When I think about
> the extremely wide range of techniques that are used for manufacturing
> tea, though, that hardly seems inevitable. *Maybe it's just hard to
> muster the creativity and discipline needed in an industry that has to
> keep looking over its shoulder because the cops or the DEA might be
> approaching? *I'm assuming you never had a chance to try, say, heavily
> roasted coca oolong...
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /

writes:

> Thanks Lew. The whole coca leaf issue is complicated. Once, I thought
> to roast coca leaves as Keemun Hao Ya style but I am not allowed to
> buy loose coca leaves from the market but can drink coca tea bag. What
> do you think?

I think you needn't actually buy the leaves. Just offer your services
as a consultant to the cocaleros!

> Well, I prefer to talk about this issue more face to face-

You have a point there.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
recent addition: zongzicha

wonderful story. for me as a spanish properties of coca leaves -chewed
or in infusion- were not a secret as it seemed for you as a just
arrived...

maybe there is not used, here in spanish we have a useful saying for
any who travels to far away exotic cultures or just to visit our
neighbor: 'donde fueres haz lo que vieres' that means more or less
'wherever you may go do whatever you may see'. it's like consider what
you see has a sense for those who are on it. or people is not so
stupid as you may think

kind regards,
bonifacio barrio hijosa
http://worldoftea.iespana.es

On May 25, 11:31*pm, wrote:
> I always wanted to write an article about Coca tea and Coca tea
> culture in Bolivia, Peru and around South America. But, the truth is,
> I am very bad in writing. I can easily deal with thousand pages of
> financial spreadsheet but writing a page memo is a punishment to me.
> Anyway, here I go with my bad writing skill.
>