Yaupon is an amazing ally to human health and wellness and promotes GOOD energy! Yaupon is full of valuable phytochemicals including caffeine (roughly 1%, about half that of a cup of coffee), theobromine (an uplifting gentle stimulant, the happiness "drug" in chocolate), quercetin (anti-inflammatory), and other antioxidants. It's delicious and wild and makes a nourishing and uplifting brew. The northern cousin of yerba maté, yaupon is the only native North American plant to contain caffeine and theobromine – and it only grows wild in Texas and a handful of southern states.
Is yaupon tea really a tea? Yaupon is no more Chinese tea than Chinese tea is American yaupon - they taste alike and offer similar experiences but are from completely different plant families! Imported Tea is from the Camilla sinensis plant and is entirely native to China with the exception of a subspecies from India. North and South America’s “tea” plants including yerba maté, guayusa, and yaupon all come from the Ilex or holly genus. Yaupon and Chinese tea may be similar in constituents but their similarities are more out of creating alike functions to exist in nature than they are related. Somewhat like how two people could look alike without being blood relatives.