Welcome to The Yauponeer Blog!
A space where we discuss anything and everything yaupon related
Introduction
Yaupon Holly, the once sacred plant and beverage of the American southeast, is an antioxidant, alkaloid, and caffeine rich native shrub, boasting many health and ecological benefits compared to traditional coffee or green tea.
Besides its historical and ecological significance, yaupon tea or just yaupon, contains an impressive level of antioxidants and beneficial molecules compared to traditional coffee or green tea. Some of which include notable compounds like quercetin and L-theanine, at least 17x’s the antioxidants of green tea, and a sustainable supply that can enable community-driven ecological regeneration with every sip!
The Health Benefits of Yaupon
To truly understand the many wonders of Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria), we must first understand the many beneficial compounds that make-up a cup of yaupon, and how those many compounds work together to provide foundational and lasting support for your entire body. Only then, we can see how these many benefits can work to empower and regenerate not only ourselves, but entire communities.
(If you would first like to understand what yaupon holly is, its intriguing history and cultural significance, then I’d first recommend checking out our blog post of just that, found here or at yaupon.store/blog)
In short, to much of western society, caffeine is a relatively new substance, only gaining popularity around the 1600’s, especially in Spain and New Spain or modern-day central America. Many historians now even credit much of our modern “age of enlightenment” with the widespread usage and consumption of coffee and green tea throughout Europe and the Americas, which saw a gradual yet widespread switch to more rational and logic-based reasoning and governance, coinciding with a widespread increase in caffeine usage and consumption.
Theories aside, in the present day, some sort of caffeinated beverage is consumed every day by over 3/4th of the world. One could argue, quite accurately, that the global caffeine trade has touched more people than almost any other activity in the world, even the internet.
A map depicting the probability of Yaupon consumption throughout various Native American tribes in the southern part of the United States.
Caffeine Consumption in the Body
Caffeine is actually quite the powerful drug, a psychoactive, vasoconstricting alkaloid that can quickly pass the blood brain barrier and alter the physical, emotional, and mental state of its user within minutes, often for 4-6 hours before subsiding. The most notable effects are that of increased focus and concentration, with side-effects including increased heartrate, perspiration, anxiety, and thirst. With the half-life of the caffeine molecule being around 6 hours, most users start to feel the effects wear off after that same amount of time or sooner, and can start to feel withdrawal symptoms within just 12-48 hours.
Okay, but how does it actually work?
It’s quite interesting biologically speaking, and hints to the superiority of our beloved yaupon vs other caffeinated products. Although caffeine is one of the most popular stimulants in the world, how it actually works is quite counterintuitive.
To achieve this infamous “stimulating” effect, caffeine is first absorbed into our bloodstream. A mere few seconds after ingesting, the caffeine molecule travels deep into our brain to a specific neuroreceptor, adenozene, blocking it. Like a square lego in a circular hole, the caffeine molecule psychically blocks the receptor, preventing our body from activating or utilizing the receptor in any way. This receptor, adenozene, is the one in our brain responsible for causing drowsiness or the classic “tired” feeling.
So, by blocking this specific neurochemical signal within our brain, caffeine prevents our bodies from feeling tired or sleepy.
In response to this blockage, our body often triggers its fight or flight response, causing adrenaline and even cortisol to begin flooding our bloodstream. This is usually about 10-15 mins after ingestion and is what is responsible for that “rush” you often feel shortly after drinking a cup of coffee or strong tea.
Soon after that, our body begins to create more adenozene receptors to remedy the blockage, although this process takes time, usually a few hours. This process, along with the half life of the caffeine molecule, is what given us the classic 4-6 hours of increased energy, before the crash. The crash, or the jitteriness, headache, sweatiness, and additional drowsiness after consuming caffeine is due to all the additional adenzene receptors the brain created in response, as well as the vasoconstricting* nature of the caffeine molecule.
*A vasoconstrictor is simply a substance that decreases blood flow and increases blood pressure by constricting the blood vessels.
Alkaloids in Coffee and Tea
Now, unfortunately, just a few hours later, the stimulating effects of caffeine are over, and the side-effects are just beginning. Interestingly, once caffeine breaks down or metabolizes in your body, it forms both theobromine and theophylline. These are similar alkaloids to caffeine, and are even found alongside caffeine within coffee and tea, but have quite different bodily effects.
Theobromine is the “pleasure molecule” found in dark chocolate, coffee, and tea, and is responsible for stimulating smooth muscle tissues along with providing increased mood, memory, and cognition. It is a vasodilator, opposite of caffeine, and thus helps to open the blood vessels and increase blood flow, counteracting the many side-effects of caffeine intake.
Theophylline is also an alkaloid and vasodilator found in coffee and tea, and too helps to deal with those vasoconstricting caffeine side effects.
Unfortunately, despite being directly involved in the metabolic pathway of caffeine breakdown, along with being present in small quantities in traditional coffee or tea, these alkaloids don’t do nearly enough to fully counteract the side-effects of caffeine intake.
But don’t worry, there is good news!
Introducing: Yaupon!
A truly superior caffeinated tea, naturally designed to minimize the side effects of caffeine intake and maximize its benefits. With specialized molecules like Caffeine, L-Theanine, Quercetin, Rutin, Theobromine, Theophylline and much more!
But how?!
Yaupon tea or yaupon contains not only caffeine, but high quantities of the above-mentioned theobromine and theophylline, vasodilators designed to deal with the jitteriness, headache, and fatigue associated with caffeine intake. This means that when you drink yaupon, you get the sustained energy of caffeine, without the crash of coffee or other caffeinated drinks, thanks to its high levels of the above-mentioned alkaloids.
When describing the difference compared to coffee or green tea, we like to use a simple analogy:
It’s like flying spirit airlines vs first class, both will get you there, one is just going to be a much smoother ride… With yaupon of course being the first-class option.
As you might have suspected, having high levels of theobromine isn’t just great for countering side effects, it can do much more. Are you an athlete? Researcher? Scientist? Teacher? Thanks to its proven ability to increase memory as well as cognitive capabilities, theobromine can help to increase your memory and concentration with every sip.
More so, theobromine has even proven effective in improving blood circulation and restoring tooth enamel, once entirely thought impossible. So, every sip of our yaupon tea can increase your energy, mood, memory, cognition, blood circulation, and even whiten your teeth!
But that’s not all!
Yaupon tea contains not only a whole suite of important alkaloids like theobromine and theophylline to maximize your energy, focus, and overall caffeine experience, but it also massive amounts of vitamins and antioxidants too! (Think of it like natural vitamin water, But it actually works!)
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are a specific group of chemical compounds that prevent oxidation, or in other words help deal with the creation and damage caused by oxidation, or the development of free radicals throughout our body.
Antioxidants are known to be crucial in preventative healthcare and wellness and are one of the many reasons fruits, vegetables, and plants are such an important part of our diet. Besides the macro/micro-nutrients, vitamins, and trace minerals we get from nature, we also get antioxidants, which are key to supporting a healthy and fully functioning immune system.
Free radicals, on the other hand, which are created all the time in our bodies from all sorts of natural stressors, from sunburn to BBQ’s, and are often what scientists now say leads to more serious disease or illness.
These free radicals are specific molecules that have somehow lost an electron, and thus begin scavenging the body in search of one, destroying all types of cells in the process. As this is a daily battle our immune system goes through, it is thus very important to have a large supply of antioxidants within our bodies to deal with these damaging free radicals.
Our Yaupon
Although exact studies have yet to be done on all the superior properties of yaupon and yaupon tea, we can confidently say it contains on average +17x the antioxidants of green tea, which is already one of the healthiest substances in the world thanks to its high levels of antioxidants.
Yaupon actually contains so many antioxidants that its more difficult to oxidize or ferment compared to traditional green tea, proving its superiority in antioxidant capacity and potency!
Additionally, besides high levels of naturally balanced alkaloids, flavonoids, amino acids, and antioxidants, yaupon also contains high levels trace minerals like potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium, helping to support your immune system and daily cellular functions.
Check out below
Some molecules to note include Quercetin and L-Theanine, which you may have heard of for their potent anti-inflammatory and neuro-protective capabilities. Feel free to read more about them here.
Take Aways
Overall, Yaupon tea provides a wide array of health benefits thanks to its many unique and beneficial antioxidants, alkaloids, vitamins, and minerals. Below is a list of 10 of these health benefits, in no specific order:
Vitamin water? Not So Much
Disclaimer: One important distinction I want to make is the difference between added and naturally occurring vitamins, alkaloids, and antioxidants within common beverages. While I may have joked about vitamin water earlier, there is an unfortunate truth in those words. After many years of worldwide success, it was found out that, in fact, vitamin water contains almost none of the advertised vitamins, and that they denatured, or were rendered ineffective, just minutes after being introduced to the flavored water.
The successful absorption rate is thus a key factor that is often ignored when developing healthy beverages and supplements, with a vast majority of added vitamins and antioxidants denaturing far before the consumer ever reaches the product. Most often, the best way to successfully ingest a mineral, vitamin, or alkaloid is directly through a certain food or drink, just like with our yaupon tea!
Thankfully, by design, what I just described is a far cry from what we offer here at Yaupon Tea Co., as all our products are wild harvested and cured by hand, ensuring the maximum potency throughout the drying, curing, and packaging process. Plus, our yaupon has a shelf life of 3+ years before losing any significant amount of potency.
Cheers,
Yaupon Tea Co. Team
About Yaupon Tea Co.
At Yaupon Tea Co., we are more than just another tea company. We are environmental stewards who are dedicated to finding innovative ways to live in harmony with the environment. We believe that it is possible to cultivate and harvest yaupon holly in a sustainable way that respects the land and it’s natural resources.
In addition to being environmentally conscious, we are also passionate about promoting the health benefits of yaupon holly tea. We believe that this ancient beverage has the potential to improve the health and well-being of our customers. Finally, we see ourselves as educators who are committed to sharing the rich history of yaupon holly and its traditional uses with a wider audience. We believe that by sharing this knowledge, we can help to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the southeastern United States.