Category Archives: General

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

THIS POST IS INTENDED TO BE INFORMATIONAL ONLY. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYBODY ATTEMPT TO IMPORT COCA TEA INTO ANY COUNTRY WHO IS NOT PREPARED TO LOSE THEIR INVESTMENT, OR, DEPENDING ON THE COUNTRY AND OTHER FACTORS, FACE STIFF PENALTIES AND POSSIBLE PROSECUTION. DRUG CONTROL METHODS USED BY BORDER CONTROL AUTHORITIES MAY CHANGE IN THE FUTURE, SO PLEASE READ THE BELOW KEEPING IN MIND THAT THINGS CAN AND DO CHANGE OVER TIME.

IMPORTING COCA TEA IN YOUR LUGGAGE

Before you pack that lovely coca tea into your luggage, it’s best to know what can potentially go wrong.

Coca is a controlled substance in the USA, listed as a Schedule II narcotic (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/812).

No distinction is made between the refined deadly drug and the whole leaf, which is a huge injustice to health-conscious people all over the world.

Bringing coca tea back from a visit to Peru may result in seizure of the goods. Prosecution or financial penalties for attempting to import coca tea is practically unheard of, however, at least in the USA.

At the end of the day, if you are planning to bring coca products back from Peru, we feel your biggest risk will be the loss of your money used to buy the tea, as well as a potentially disapproving look from a Customs official.

It pretty much will come down to the inspecting Customs officer upon arrival in your home country.

Customs officers are human, of course, and their personal attitudes, beliefs, and potential ignorance of what coca actually is may influence their decision to seize.

Some officers know about the tea, but wave it through, as they know its harmless. Other Customs officers may be more hard-line and by-the-book, and will seize your coca. As I mentioned, you’re unlikely to receive a financial penalty, but technically they could do that, as well as more severe legal measures (again, these are all but unheard of, but all possibilities must be considered!)

Technically, if they really wanted to, they could refer you for prosecution by federal authorities, but I’ve never heard of such a thing – they have bigger fish to fry, doing the important work of trying to stop truly dangerous things coming to our country – and bravo to them!

WHAT ABOUT DRUG DETECTION TESTS USED BY CUSTOMS, OR SNIFFER DOGS?

Good question – glad you’re thinking about these things 🙂

To our knowledge, there is no field test currently in use that will detect the small amount of natural cocaine molecules found in coca tea products. A suspicious officer would have to order a laboratory test, and who would bother with that? It’s easier for them just to take your tea and let you pass. Also, no drug-sniffing pooch is trained to detect tea!

The reason is one of biochemistry. Cocaine presence tests used at border control points, the stuff that makes hard drugs like cocaine turn blue to indicate a positive detection, do not work on coca tea, as the molecule they’re looking for, cocaine hydrochloride, simply isn’t present in unprocessed whole leaf coca tea. Coca Tea does contain organic cocaine molecules in their completely natural and holistic form – it’s a separate chemical entirely.

Cocaine is a synthetic (human-made) drug, and is a “salt” of the extracted cocaine molecules. Cocaine is dangerous and highly addictive, whilst coca tea is benevolent to the body and mind in many, many ways.

PRO TIP 1 – YOUR COCA TEA IN DISGUISE

Your best bet is to buy a bunch of normal tea bags, or green tea powder (way stronger than tea bags), in a Peruvian supermarket, then disguise the coca tea bags or powder by exchanging the contents by placing it into the regular tea packaging. I’ve done that a few times when taking coca tea powder overseas, to and from the US, with zero problems.

PRO TIP 2 – SAFETY IN NUMBERS

Another thing that may help your successful import pass through the Customs check is to buy a few packs of legit health products and keep them with the disguised coca tea.

Peru is an amazing country with huge biodiversity, and with some of the most potent superfoods in the world.

Get yourself a bag of Maca powder, Moringa tea, or any other legal product, such as a bottle of vitamins, and keep them close together in your luggage. This will reduce suspicion, as it would simply look like you’re a health-conscious traveler 🙂

TO IMPORT OR NOT IMPORT COCA – THAT IS THE QUESTION

We will not recommend anybody to import anything into any country that may land them at risk of penalty or financial loss. Having said that, the risks of serious trouble are surprisingly low, from all the anecdotal evidence we’ve seen. If you choose to attempt bringing coca leaf back to the USA, or any other country, we can only wish you good luck and hope for your ultimate success!

On the other hand, many people would feel uncomfortable taking even such a relatively minor risk, or are simply nervous travelers and don’t want another thing weighing on their minds.

That’s where we step in. We have been running a US-based coca tea shop for a few years – Tea for Life USA.

Tea for Life USA only ships coca tea that has already cleared Customs controls, and so all the tea we sell is 100% guaranteed to arrive at your doorstep.

Concluding Side Note

People also try to buy coca tea online direct from Peru.While some tea sent directly from Peru will certainly get through, it is unknown what percentage of coca tea imports get seized. It could be 30% or it could be 60%+. This data isn’t made public by Customs, for obvious reasons. Many people get lucky ordering direct from Peru, but for many, their tea simply never arrives.

 

When a person from Lima reaches the Mantaro Valley, the altitude, a dizzying 10,800 feet above sea level, can cause her to suffer what the locals call “soroche” – otherwise known as altitude sickness.

The effects are not pleasant.  Dizziness, nausea, headache, cold sweat are the symptoms of this disease.  The sufferer is advised to consume coca tea to better acclimatize to the altitude, a traditional remedy for altitude sickness that no pharmaceutical medicine can relieve as much as simple cup of tea (or two). In the highlands of Peru its consumption is common and those that live there know that there is a great difference between the coca leaf and cocaine, or any drug that is derived from its processing.

So much has been discovered about the medicinal and therapeutic use of the coca leaf in South America, but these applications are largely unknown in the Western world. The purpose of this article is to let you know what other benefits are attributed to this product.

The scientific name for the coca plant is Erythroxylum coca and it is used in complementary or community medicine in all the countries of South America it is grown. It serves as a pain reliever to soothe toothaches, rheumatic problems and headaches. Likewise, it is also used as an antispasmodic for colic-type pains in patients, it reduces this type of discomfort without the need for chemical medicine. It also fights fatigue and reduces hunger.

A prominent Peruvian doctor, Fernando Rojas Tapia states that it is very common to consume it as an infusion. “We know that there are alternative preparations, but we always recommend that it be used as an infusion. Soaking a few leaves and drinking it as tea. Furthermore, this has become part of a folkloric and ancestral treatment in the area. It helps to improve not just ailments, but promote health in general ”, commented the specialist.

Coca Leaf And Athletic Performance

it is well known in Peru that Coca leaf improves athletic performance. It improves the power and resistance to fatigue of the athlete.  It takes effect quickly, with the effects lasting for several hours.

Medicinal Use Of The Coca Leaf

We sought the opinion of a coca leaf merchant, José Flores (68), who said that the use of the leaf should not be demonized, whether it be “chewed” or in infusions.

“In ancient times, peasants used it for hunger and to give them physical strength for work and agricultural activities. Now consumption has dropped due to the generational change and young people do not see it as a medicinal option. When left to macerate it is drunk as a pure mate de coca.” said José, who is a former military man and has been selling coca tea in local Peruvian markets for 38 years.

 

If you’ve found this page, you’ve probably had the frustration of having your eagerly-expected coca tea seized by Customs. It sucks, and we know the feeling, big time, as it’s happened to us many times in the past.

But times have changed and we have our ways.

At Coca Tea USA, we recommend taking a visit to our discreet sister website… Tea for Life USA 🙂

Just as the name suggests, we sell coca tea shipped from within the USA. Now, that’s refreshing – no more worries about Customs 🙂

Many people ask themselves “what is the best green tea for weight loss?”  There is no doubt about it, “traditional” green tea is an excellent choice when it comes to improving your diet and losing weight.

When most people think of green tea, they think of tea made from the most common tea plant, scientifically known as Camellia sinensis.

There is another type of green tea that is superior yet again to traditional green tea. That tea is Coca Tea, from South America.

It is already well known that traditional green tea assists with increasing the metabolism, as well as providing the body with very powerful antioxidants and other healthy nutrients.

Coca Tea, on the other hand is made from the leaves of the (somewhat controversial) coca bush, and so is a totally different plant to traditional tea plants.

What makes Coca Tea very effective in weight loss is that it is a natural appetite suppressant. Many people who take Coca Tea report that it’s substantially reduces hunger and appetite.

I myself use it regularly to control cravings for snack foods, and to generally reduce my intake of food.

At the same time as reducing your appetite, it also increases your physical activity. It is a mild stimulant, along the lines of a Red Bull or a cup of strong coffee.

This article is not about getting into all the nutrients and other things that make up Coca Tea. There are plenty of articles on this site in around the web that can tell you all about the benefits.

We wrote this article simply to say that it is true, coca tea is the best green tea for weight loss in the world.

Our advice? Take both! Get yourself some high quality green tea powder and add both types of tea to your daily diet regimen.

For those of us who consume coca on a regular basis, most of us know of a nice little secret. Delisse Coca powder is very effective because of it’s very small particle size. That’s it – it’s as simple as that.

The extremely fine particle size of powdered coca tea give it a greater surface area when it is mixed in with how water.

We love Delisse coca tea bags, and use them every day. They make for a very pleasant and invigorating cup of coca tea.

The coca tea leaves that go into the bags is the same as what goes into the Delisse powdered coca tea product. The only difference is the size of the tea particle. The coca in tea bags comprises of tiny flakes. However, as we’ve mentioned, the powdered version is ground to a much finer consistency…and this makes a difference in your final brew.

Sometimes we want the strongest possible effects from our coca tea. For the purposes of treating a medical condition, for example. Or just for a more potent brew.

One final word – don’t forget that Delisse coca powder and an AeroPress are a match made in the heavens of the Incan gods 🙂