Ancient Americans Pounded Vomit-Causing 'Black Drink' 6 Times Stronger Than Coffee

In the largest metropolis of what would become the United States, residents consumed a "black drink" that was six times stronger than coffee and caused vomiting -- which was the desired effect.

A team of researchers from Illinois, New Mexico, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania has found traces of the rich beverage in pottery beakers excavated from the site of Cahokia, a once-thriving settlement near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

The caffeinated drink was brewed from the leaves of the Yaupon holly, a species of holly tree that grew hundreds of miles away, the researchers say. The discovery sheds light not only on how far the trading networks of ancient Cahokia reached, but also what great lengths its leaders would take to get their hands on their bevvy's key ingredient.

Pottery vessel from Cahokia (L. Brian Stauffer)

To give you a sense of the brew's effects, it's worth pointing out that the Yaupon holly's scientific name is Ilex vomitoria, or "barfing holly." Drinking the distillation of its leaves causes intense sweating and vomiting, which anthropologists believe was used in purification rituals, like before battle. They speculate that the tea might've been drunk quickly to intensify this effect.

Ilex vomitoria (Credit: Luteus)

But the practice was not unique to Cahokia by any means. Europeans recorded use of the "black drink" all over what's now the Southeastern U.S. in the colonial days, and the ritual use of spiked drinks has been documented as far back as the Maya, who used everything from emetic brews to chocolate enemas to induce hallucinations.

The discovery adds just a shade more data to the story of Cahokia, which -- like so many other settlements farther west -- was abandoned as mysteriously and suddenly as it was erected. During its peak years, from about 1100 to 1300 C.E., Cahokia was the largest settlement in North America outside of Mexico, home to some 50,000 people.

Painting by Lloyd K. Townsend. Courtesy Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Illinois

"This is a level of population density, a level of political organization that has not been seen before in North America," said Thomas Emerson, a lead researcher involved in the discovery and director of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, in a statement.

The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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