Native Life: the Black Drink

When Spanish and later French explorers encountered tribes in the Southeast, they observed rituals concerning a particular beverage known either as Black Drink or White Drink, depending on the tribe and why it was being used.  These beverages were always consumed by men and always in the context of ceremony, never for casual purposes.  The main ingredient appeared to be the leaves and stems of the Yaupon Holly plant.  Because vomiting was often involved in the rituals, the plant was thought to be responsible.  Thus its scientific name, Ilex Vomitoria.

The Yaupon Holly grows wild along the Gulf Coast and Southeast Coast, including coastal Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  The name Yaupon comes from the Catawba name for the plant "yop", which indicated a tree.  Bushes of the Yaupon plant can grow almost as large as a small trees and are now cultivated for their lush foliage that can be trimmed into shapes like topiary.  The Timucua word for the plant was Cassina, which is also used to refer to another shrub not relevant here.  The main ingredient in the plant is caffeine.  While it can be used as a diuretic for medicinal purposes, there are no emetic ingredients which should cause vomiting.  In theory, the most one should get from drinking a cup of tea made from the Yaupon is a severe caffeine buzz, as one cup of Black Drink is the equivalent of several cups of regular caffeinated coffee.  Perhaps the vomiting was a learned behavior, or the result of drinking the liquid, which was not at all pleasant, in large quantities. 

The ceremonial use of black drink goes back to the mound-building Mississippian cultures, where small clay pots and beakers suitable for consuming it have been unearthed.  Though mound-building cultures were all over the Eastern United States, only the Five Southeastern Tribes, along with other tribes in the South, continued the tradition.  Prior to a ceremony, men would gather the wild plants and roast their stems and leaves the same way that coffee is roasted today.  The result would be brewed into a potent, dark, unpleasant-tasting beverage that would be consumed before council meetings, prior to battle, during the Green Corn Ceremony and at other momentous times.  There were specific rituals as to who could drink the beverage when.  At ceremonies, it was offered to men of high status first, then down the social ladder, with some members of the tribe not being deemed eligible to drink it. 

In the Creek language, the drink is known as assi, and the drinking of it is accompanied by a ritual chanting or singing known as Yahola.  (We know where this is going!)  In the early 19th century, a young refugee of Creek ancestry showed such skill in the chanting accompanying the beverage's consumption during his first Green Corn Ceremony that he was given the ritual name "Assin-Yahola", the "Black Drink Singer".  History knows him better as Osceola, the Unconquered.  Following the removal of the Native nations, White settlers used a beverage similar to the Black Drink to cure kidney and other ailments.  During the blockade in the Civil War, Southerners used it as a substitute for coffee.  Herbal stores still sell teas made from the Yaupon.