This Side of the Pond

The United States once had its very own tea, made from the only caffeinated plant that’s native within these borders. Unfortunately, legend has it that this tasty beverage was hounded into obscurity by the devious plan of none other than the British.

But I’m not prepared to apologize quite yet for the loss of yaupon tea. Like many of the myths that circulate this world, it’s possible the accepted version is either a misunderstanding or a blatant mistruth.

Of course, I would say that. You guys know how the British feel about tea, I’ve been telling you for years.

You’ve also probably figured out that the strong opinions my countrymen hold on my nation’s favorite thirst-quencher extend to thinking we know exactly how everybody else should be drinking it. You’d assume that would be reason enough for us to put a damper on an upstart brew, but the supposed truth is more sinister.

I’d never heard of yaupon until I stumbled across an article that looked into its rebirth as a hot drink. For years, the yaupon holly bush was considered nothing more than a decorative plant, until two different Americans, for two different reasons but at very similar times, made a near-simultaneous decision to revive it as a beverage.

According to the BBC, one of these was a Texan lady named Abianne Fala, who was surprised to find the yaupon bushes on her farm were the only thing left alive after a devastating drought. A few years later, in Florida, a man named Bryon White thought much the same after spotting healthy yaupon bushes during a hike through the forests.

Both of them began to research the plant and were shocked to discover its long history as a source of tea. It was once consumed by almost every Native American tribe that lived within its territory, which stretches from North Carolina to Texas.

It was used in purification rituals that involved purging and was prized for its flavor; it was also known as “cassina” by the Timucua tribe. The Spanish explorers called it “black drink,” because apparently they weren’t very imaginative.

In later times, it also stood out for the fact it doesn’t contain tannins. The tribes that first discovered the tea wouldn’t have had anything to compare it to due to yaupon being the only caffeinated plant they had access to.

On the other hand, the people who colonized this land were already big fans of a tasty hot drink and would have been aware that over-steeping a tea variety that contains tannins can create a bitter aftertaste. Most teas are therefore better drunk with sugar, but yaupon did not have this flaw.

By the time of the American Revolution, the yaupon holly bush was grown on farms and the tea was popular across the South. It was even traded across to Europe, where Londoners enjoyed it as “South Seas Tea” and Parisian salons served it as “Apalachine.”

It became a fashion all of its own, but this wasn’t to last – and that’s where the myth comes in. A modern lover of yaupon tea (the kind of afficionado who knows which gender of leaf he prefers to brew with and can tell you all about their antioxidant properties) wrote an article about the downfall of America’s indigenous tea a while back for a Florida newspaper.

In this piece, Francis E. Putz, a professor of botany for the University of Florida, blamed the British for the fact he’s found it hard to establish a yaupon coffee group.

“Yaupon tea’s market was done great damage in the late 1700s by William Aiton, a Scottish botanist I believe was secretly in the employ of Ceylon tea merchants,” he wrote.

He’s not far off the mark, but Aiton was actually more likely to have been trying to please his good friend, the monarch. That doesn’t necessarily get him off the hook, though, because King George III had more interest in tea than you’d guess – because he made a lot of money from it.

The king also was the patron of the newly established Kew Gardens in London, a botanic garden that boasts the achievement of housing the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world. This was where Aiton worked as director, and it fell to him to classify the yaupon bush.

Yaupon had accidentally been given the same Latin name as the Dahoon Holly, so Aiton changed it. He chose a name that reflected its importance in the Native American purification rituals: Ilex vomitoria.

This, of course, translates to mean, “The holly that makes you vomit,” which is not the most appealing of monikers. Customers suddenly became fearful of drinking yaupon and it began to fall out of favor.

Why would he do this? Because yaupon was a threat to the English tea trade, under the auspices of the East India Company.

The East India Company, at its peak, was the largest corporation of its kind and was actually larger than several nations, according to Emily Erikson, sociology professor at Yale University. Tea was one of its major trade goods and a threat to its popularity couldn’t be tolerated. King George felt similarly, says the legend, because of all the lovely tax money flowing his way.

Greed, fear and a nice cup of tea – these do seem like understandable motives. But is it really true?

Alan T. Whittemore of the U.S. National Arboretum says it’s not. According to him, “The name was given by Linnaeus, who was Swedish and not connected with British trading interests,” while yaupon was only really used locally by English settlers and wasn’t exported much commercially.

The jury is out, but I’m still finding the myth compelling, because it seems like just the sort of thing the British would do in the face of threats to their tea. I don’t dislike being painted as the savior of a decent cuppa, so maybe in this instance we shouldn’t let the truth get in the way of a darned good story.