Grow your own caffeine

Frank Cordeiro wrote:You can buy guarana cuttings or seeds online and they should do well in a tropical greenhouse.  They have from two to five times more caffeine than coffee...  I used to mix it with cocoa and cayenne for a high energy drink.

Wow!  I don’t know what guarana is, but cocoa and cayenne sounds wonderful.  Next time I mix my morning blend, I’ll go strong on those , make it the dominant flavor!

My morning blend has about a dozen ingredients.  Chicory being the main ingredient, but varying amounts of coffee, tea, gingko, ashwaghanda, marshmallow root, hawthorn, chaga, reishi, turmeric, black pepper…. That’s probably not all of it.  I brew it strong and add about a cup of milk in a quart.

When I travel, I take it with me.  It’s my favorite part of the day!  And every batch tastes a little different, which keeps it from getting boring.

Jae Gruenke wrote:One more thing comes to mind--California coffeeberry--which I'd read *might* have caffeine-like stimulants, but this post from Hank Shaw makes it clear that, while you can make a delicious coffee substitute from the seeds, there's no caffeine. Maybe add some bay laurel?  https://honest-food.net/california-coffeeberry-edible/

There’s a native Ca shrub called coffee berry in some regions Rhamnus is the genus I think.  It’s a powerful laxative, so watch out on what you harvest!

Stacey Lindsey wrote:Well this doesn’t have caffeine, but Mormon Tea does have Ephedra in it which is a natural stimulant.

https://www.birdandhike.com/Veg/Species/Shrubs/Ephedr_vir/_Eph_vir.htm

I’m reading my way through this whole thread to see if the genus Ephedra is mentioned and yup here it is.  It’s tolerant of “real winter”, arid and alkaline conditions.  It’s more likely a gardener would kill it by overwatering and over fertilizing!

It’s worth looking into!

I’m a great one for pointing out that the use of an herb spiral is inappropriate in a hot dry climate, but if a person is going to try growing Ephedra sp in a climate with lots of rain and moist soils,
Ephedra would be the perfect plant!

Ephedra is the genus, ephedrine is the most active substance.  It has some powerful effects, so research before ingesting!

Hello y'all... I HAVE A DREAM.

No, really... about 3 yrs ago, I decided the ultimate task (money making), the ONE THING that would be THE BEST thing for me to do, was to farm yaupon. I KNOW that I can spend all day, and even well into the night, HAND PICKING yaupon leaves, one by one, in order to then process them, and... well... that's as far as I got... but for 3-4 months! I collected almost a kilo. I even explored all the ways it could be processed and stored, and even made a spiced kombucha with it!

Then some sh*t happened. and it all got tossed out. I DEMAND A DO OVER.

How 'bout some of Us band together, and form a NATIVE TURTLE ISLAND CAFFEINE TEA CO. "intentional community"/farm/village!

I would REALLY be down for that. What say you?

Paul Haggerty wrote:
Have you thought of crossing I. vomitoria with I. paraguayensis? Seems at least the chromosome numbers are the same.

I had plants of both that flowered at the same time in my garden in Ankara, Turkey. I tried to hand pollinate but only got a few berries with seeds, none of which germinated by the time I had left.

I donated all of that material to a researcher in Turkey, but am starting again with plants in my garden near Seattle.

I have a few varieties of Ilex vomitoria and Ilex paraguariensis. I suspect that a lot of the "yerba mate" floating around the US has significant variation. I hope to get some actual cultivars in the future imported from South America. As far as Ilex vomitoria goes, those can be hard to find, but they have a huge range and amount of variation. At this point, I am just buying whatever I see, growing things out, and hope to do some breeding in the future.