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A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

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Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#81

Post by LostPinesYaupon »

philg_jr wrote: post #63

Another obscure-ish tea that is seems to be gaining popularity is guayusa (mostly being pushed under the brand Runa). It is another holly from warm regions, I think from rainforests in South America. I'm a big fan of the moderate caffeine content and the ability to steep it for long periods to get more caffeine out of it, without it getting bitter. It is amazing as a summer/warm weather high-caffeine iced tea. You ca…

Guayusa is great. We're pretty jealous of the size of their leaves compared to yaupon leaves. Yaupon, guayusa and yerba mate are all in the Ilex genus, they're the three known caffeinated hollies (or more accurately the three known hollies with appreciable levels of caffeine)

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#82

Post by vanderZwan »

Baeocystin wrote: post #21
moultano wrote: post #4

This reminds me of the paw paw (not to be confused with the papaya which Australians call pawpaw) https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/09/15/550985844/th... It's a fruit that seems tropical, a close relative of the custard apple or sitaphal that tastes like a pina colada. Yet it grows natively all over the eastern US. It's so common that in many places it's every third tree in the forest. I grew up in peak pawpa…

Pawpaws have very inconsistent harvests, don't ship well at all, and have a very short ready to eat -> overripe time. They are also, like you note, absolutely delicious. I have two trees in my backyard. (You need two for them to pollinate and bear fruit.) But there are practical reasons why you don't see them for sale very often.

Couldn't they be canned to overcome these instabilities? It would reduce flavour, I'm sure, but still

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#83

Post by smazga »

I drink Yerba Mate every day, and when I heard about yaupon, definitely had to try it.

Unroasted, it's very grassy, but refreshing. The roasted variety I got tasted quite similar to mate. It's really good.

The biggest problem I have is that I can get a kilo of mate for $9, but 2 Oz of yaupon is in the $15-$20 range.

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#84

Post by LostPinesYaupon »

hellojason wrote: post #64
cstanton wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few months ago, I was in Austin and met two youpon cold brew makers selling at the farmers markets. Really delicious and smooth. The plant grew wild on many of the hikes I took.

Do you recall which market you went to? I’m curious to try some.

He's talking about Local Leaf. They're at the Mueller Farmers Market on Sundays from 10am-2pm. They're super nice and chatty. They cold brew theres to the caffeine strength of coffee. Come check us out too, Lost Pines Yaupon Tea (http://lostpinesyaupontea.com), we're also at that market. We also do the Downtown (sat 9-1), Lakeline (sat 9-1) and HOPE (sun 11-3) markets. We sell loose leaf, tea bags and brewed tea. Ours is pretty different than Local Leaf. It's closer to green tea in caffeine and tastes a lot like (delicious) iced tea.

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#85

Post by anotheryou »

cstanton wrote: post #62
anotheryou wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and the one line about its taste: "people [prefer] it over maté in a blind taste test" (but it's similar)

A few months ago, I was in Austin and met two youpon cold brew makers selling at the farmers markets. Really delicious and smooth. The plant grew wild on many of the hikes I took.

I'm in the EU, it would be 35€ or something to get a bit of this :)

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#86

Post by VVyattPrentice »

ppierald wrote: post #75

Go nearly anywhere in Argentina and you will find mate. People walk around with a thermos of hot water and sip all day. It is a shared cultural experience too like saying hello. You see a friend, greet them, then offer them some mate. Our SF-based company has an office in Mendoza, Argentina. You will not find baristas and coffee (though Starbucks just opened there), but plenty of mate for everyone. Due to this connec…

Very interesting. I drank mate with friends from Buenos Aires when I was a teen. We would drink it the traditional way, namely out of a small dried gourd with a metal straw. Are you saying that mate (pronounced mah-teh like a southerner saying "my tea" fwiw -- not an Australian addressing a friend) is not commercialized in Argentina? As in, people offer their personal mate and there are not "mate shops" that would equate to "coffee shops"(think third wave USA)? Or that they prefer Mate to coffee, hence there are no "coffee shops" while there may or may not be "mate shops"?

I guess I like the idea that mate is so personal than you wouldn't go to a commercial shop for their blendbut ratherwould share your homebrew with a friend on a park bench.

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#87

Post by mulmen »

watty wrote: post #57
mulmen wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At first glance this seems dangerous. How do you measure results of your self-medication? How do you identify substances to medicate yourself with? Have you spoken with a professional about this?

About what, caffeine? There's no difference between drinking a coke or a 30mg caffeine pill except the caffeine pill is better for you.

No, about self-medicating severe depression.

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#88

Post by nnq »

themodelplumber wrote: post #19

It's funny to read about "a caffeinated drink called x" when I just slice & dice Jet Alert tabs into whatever mix I'm having. There are mornings when 30mg is enough to push my intuition to extreme levels, and there are days when 100mg does nothing until I find the right song on the radio. I am using caffeine and ibuprofen as experimental tools to fight depression and keeping logs on how things go. So far it's amazing…

> ibuprofen

What source motivated to start using ibuprofen? Aren't you worried about liver and kidney damage on long term. (And the more obviously annoying side effect to becoming habituated enough to a good OTC available antiinflammatory pill that is otherwise great for headaches and works wonders on random joint aches during hikes too, but will stop working for you in these cases :) ?...)

Just genuinely curious about why you ended up with such a seemingly suboptimal combo of substances.

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#89

Post by jstarks »

chris_wot wrote: post #39

Holy crap, they are right! The OED does mistakenly define yaupon as having emetic properties! https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/yaupon How does one get the OED fix such an obvious error?

That’s not the OED, though. There are multiple dictionaries using the Oxford name.

Re: A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

#90

Post by mulmen »

taneq wrote: post #22
themodelplumber wrote: post #19

It's funny to read about "a caffeinated drink called x" when I just slice & dice Jet Alert tabs into whatever mix I'm having. There are mornings when 30mg is enough to push my intuition to extreme levels, and there are days when 100mg does nothing until I find the right song on the radio. I am using caffeine and ibuprofen as experimental tools to fight depression and keeping logs on how things go. So far it's amazing…

How long have you been doing this? I was drinking a ton of coffee every day (4-6 cups of strong drip coffee) for the last 2-3 years. It helped a lot with my motivation and general energy levels. Recently (in the last year or so) I started getting some pretty significant mood swings, I'd basically feel horrible every week for Monday/Tuesday. I also had some alarming blood pressure measurements (up to 150/110 or someth…

To add to this:

I have always felt like caffeine tapped into some kind of energy reserve which could be depleted. In short bursts caffeine works great but you have to take the time to recharge.

I always come back from vacation feeling much more energetic and motivated. I only really drink coffee or consume large amounts of caffeine at work. There are many benefits to time off but I have always suspected one of them was getting off caffeine for a stretch.

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