[doodlebugging]

A related species is Yaupon Holly that grows all over the Gulf Coast region from Texas to Florida.

That one is Ilex vomitoria and is the only native caffeine producing plant that grows in north America. I make tea from the leaves after roasting them for a few minutes on low heat. You can find Yaupon Tea for sale in quite a few places now after articles about it appeared a few years back.

It is a hardy bush that can form thickets that are nearly impenetrable. It is used as a landscape plant here in Texas and most nurseries carry dwarf varieties that form hedges. I prefer the trees. They can reach 20' tall and are covered in berries during winter. On the coldest days here in N Texas the birds descend on my trees and feast until everything is gone.

I agree that it seems like they ignored a lot of related plants in their description.

[gen220]

Do you have a Yaupon brand you can recommend? I tried some in college and found the taste too bitter (like the leaves had been improperly-stored for way too long, kind of like how basil tastes when poorly-dried).

But I'm very into the idea of finding a good Yaupon, insofar as it reduces the carbon footprint of shipping things around the world & such.

[doodlebugging]

I have several large yaupons growing on my place and I use the leaves from them.

There are quite a few outfits selling yaupon tea now and they are based all over the Gulf Coast. I haven't tried any commercial teas since reading about yaupons several years back. It looks like everyone and his dog who has ever tried to figure out what to do with all the yaupons on their property has chosen to market tea leaves. Some look like actual orchards but many advertise they sustainably or organically prepare the leaves. To me that means that as soon as they get an order they head outside to the thickest place and trim some branches and then go roast them and bag them up for shipping.

There are several outfits that distribute through grocery stores here in Texas. They sell blends of yaupon with other herbs. I'm not really an herbal tea person. I like a Earl Grey, a Chai, a green tea, etc but when you start throwing flowers in I brew some coffee. I understand that Earl Grey has bergamot but it isn't the main character get to do the tea leaves do the talking.

https://catspringtea.com/ NW of Houston in the heart of the yaupon thickets.

https://lostpinesyaupontea.com/ Hill Country yaupons

https://www.ritualyaupon.com/ Dallas company with canned teas.

https://www.texteacompany.com/ Piney Woods in East Texas. They look uncommitted to the task since they are surrounded by yaupon but claim to be out of stock. LOL

Those are all Texas yaupon tea companies. There are also others in the Carolinas, and other Gulf Coast states.

It does make a great tea which you can drink alone or with a sweetener like honey.