Chewing Leaves & Drinking Coca Tea in Peru and Bolivia

Coca leaves have been cultivated in the Andes dating back 4,000 years. They have a historical, cultural, and medicinal significance and are incredibly cheap and omnipresent in markets throughout Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. They are still included in offerings to apu mountain deities and the pachamama earth mother, often burned or arranged into 3-leafed fan shapes. Most coca, however, is consumes. Locals will ball up some leaves and placed them in a side of their mouths to chew, hoping to alleviate hunger and be able to work harder and longer. Steeped in order to make tea, one can warm up during a cold Andean evening.

Coca leaves have a long history of medicinal use. You’ll find coca tea in almost all of the hostels and hotels in high-altitude cities like Cusco or La Paz, as it’s offered as a natural remedy for altitude sickness. Coca tea is an herbal infusion made by simply steeping dried leaves from the coca plant, or prepared tea bags, in hot water. It’s greenish yellow in color and mildly bitter. Today, the tea is hyped around the world by natural medicine enthusiasts as a weight loss aid, energy stimulant, immune system strengthener and indigestion easer. However, not all of these claims have been sufficiently proven.

Coca leaves won’t get you high, and are not addictive. Coca leaves contain alkaloids which, when chemically extracted, are the source for cocaine base. You won’t find much of this alkaloid in the raw leaves itself, just enough to make the leaves a mild stimulant comparable to coffee or tea.

Much like coffee can be decaffeinated, coca leaves can be decocainized, and in fact must be in order to be legal in the United States. Decocainized coca leaves are an essential ingredients in the U.S.’s most famous beverage export, Coca Cola. Bolivia boasts various coca-based beverages, including Coca Colla and various coca beer brands.

Capitalizing on tourists’ interest, souvenir shops in Peruvian and Bolivian airports sell boxed coca tea and bitter coca candies. A traveler attempting to travel with the raw leaves themselves would be breaking the law, but products which have been decocainized are considered acceptable. Andean countries, especially Bolivia, has been fighting to have the international classification of coca leaves changed, as they are currently considered a narcotic substance internationally despite being legal in the South American countries of its origin.