Comments on: Thousand-Year-Old Dirty Tea Cups Suggest Ancient City Had Far-Reaching Influence

By: timbebinder

timbebinder — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:28:29 +0000

I read in the text The Southeastern Indians by Charles Hudson that vomiting may have been caused by simply drinking too much fluid too quickly, independent of the fact that that fluid happened to be the black drink. The same phenomenon is the basis of the One Gallon Challenge game, where people race to drink a gallon of milk in under an hour. The latter is a game everyone owes it to themselves to play at least once.

By: Veronique Greenwood

Veronique Greenwood — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:40:35 +0000

Dean, nice catch–I’ve clarified the text. Thanks!

By: Dean

Dean — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 22:23:11 +0000

Despite its species name, Ilex vomitoria, commonly known as Yaupon Holly, does not induce vomiting. Europeans observed Indians drinking tea made from it in the Southeast, where it was a sort of hospitality drink, and saw its drinkers vomiting, but the vomiting was either ritually self-induced as part of a cleansing ritual or because of other ingredients added. Tea made from the holly actually became popular among Europeans under the name Cassina Tea, until it was eclipsed by coffee and Chinese tea in the early twentieth century. I have tried Yaupon tea on several occasions and it resembles in taste and in caffeine content another holly drink, Yerba Mate from southern South America, which is made from Ilex paraguariensis.

By: Gabriela

Gabriela — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:52:02 +0000

cool!