7 Surprising Facts About the Coca Plant You Need to Know

The coca plant has been cultivated in South America for thousands of years and used for a variety of ritual, spiritual, and physical purposes by numerous Indigenous cultures. Some of these uses and traditions have survived to the present day, while the cultural and spiritual value of the plant to tens of thousands of Indigenous people in South America is often overshadowed by the global focus on its use for illicit purposes.

The name of the infamous coca plant comes from the Aymara language—“khoka” is the word for “tree.” But despite going by just one name, there are actually two distinct species of this infamous plant, each of which can be further divided into two varieties. The four varieties—Amazonian, Huánuco, Columbian, and Trujillo—were independently domesticated at least two or possibly three separate times by the ancient peoples of South America from their wild ancestor.

Differences between the varieties are primarily the climate they grow best in, whether wetter or drier and the shape and size of the leaves. All varieties are bushy plants growing 7-10 feet tall that produce small flowers and red berries. The plant is susceptible to frost and so cannot be grown at higher elevations—some scholars suggest this may have, in part, driven the expansion of the Inca Empire into lowland areas where coca could be grown successfully.

The leaves of the coca plant contain a number of alkaloids, compounds that produce physiological effects when consumed by humans. The most well-known of these is cocaine, which is toxic to humans when isolated and administered in high doses. The cocaine content of the leaves is actually quite low, less than 1%. While the plant’s use for manufacturing street drugs is no secret, less widely known are the calories, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins found in its leaves, the many uses of this ancient crop, and the spiritual and cultural significance they once held for ancient South American cultures like the Inca and Moche, and continue to hold for Indigenous peoples in this region to the present day.

Some recent evidence suggests that coca may have been domesticated as early as 6000 BCE, which would make its cultivation earlier than corn, first domesticated in the 5th millennium BCE. Researchers discovered traces of coca leaves in house floors in the Nanchoc Valley of Peru, a period that coincides with the rise of farming in the region. Little is known about how the earliest societies domesticated and cultivated the plant, but it was always for the same purpose: to chew the leaves.

The practice of chewing coca leaves may date back to these first remnants of coca found in Peruvian homes together with calcite, which would help draw the juice from the leaves. More definitive archeological evidence of the practice has been discovered among numerous early South American cultures dating as far back as 3000 BCE with the Valdivian culture in present-day Ecuador.

Since that period, artifacts, including pottery, artwork, and textiles, as well as traces of coca metabolites in ancient mummies, attest to coca chewing among various cultures in South America through to the conquest. One of the most prevalent testaments to the practice is pottery featuring figures with the distinctive bulge of a wad of coca held in the cheek, found among the Wari, Chapulí, Moche, and other pre-Columbian cultures. Another is the chuspa, a woven bag meant to hold coca leaves, found among numerous cultures and still used today.

While modern scholars cannot definitively say why these ancient cultures began chewing coca leaves, some assumptions can be made based on coca-chewing practices in the Inca Empire, as observed by Spanish colonizers, as well as modern chewing practices and studies of them. Chewing coca leaves, acullico, releases the alkaloids, vitamins, and other nutrients in them, creating a mild stimulant effect. This effect has been linked with improved physical performance, particularly in high altitudes, reduced hunger, and increased energy.

While evidence of the chewing practice dates back thousands of years, more detailed information about the when, why, and how doesn’t appear until the 15th century when Spanish colonizers and missionaries began recording stories from the Inca Empire. In Tawantinsuyu, as the Inca called their lands, coca cultivation was heavily regulated, with storehouses stocked with coca leaves to be used and distributed by the Inca government as needed. Chewing was believed to have been reserved for the nobility, special ceremonies, and particular occupations in service to the government. Chaskis, for example, Inca messengers who ran long distances, were permitted to chew coca to improve their endurance.

Coca was not just a pick-me-up like today’s ever-present coffee; it was also used as medicine, both ingested and applied topically. While medicine in ancient civilizations relied heavily on curanderos communicating with the gods to heal the sick, a variety of natural and herbal remedies were also used.

In the Inca Empire, healers believed coca had a variety of medicinal properties, including pain relief, settling stomach upset, and even mending bones. One specific use for coca was easing the pain of toothaches, as chewing the leaves, already in practice, creates a numbing sensation in the mouth. One 17th-century chronicler, Barnabé Cobo, also described chewing the leaves as a method of removing “decay” from the teeth and keeping them healthy.

Modern studies have confirmed that coca leaves act as a local anesthetic and pain reliever when applied topically. Some scholars suggest it may have been used for this purpose when the Inca were performing their famous brain surgeries. The leaf has been found to contain high levels of calcium, which may explain its use in setting bones, and has also been found to cause a constriction of the blood vessels, which supports its reported use to stop nosebleeds. It’s also worth noting that, while unknown to the Inca, the coca leaf contains vitamins, minerals, and protein that would have helped supplement nutritional deficiencies in times of poor harvest or famine.

Many of these uses continue today, and tourists unaccustomed to the high altitudes of popular destinations like Cusco and Machu Picchu are encouraged to counter its effects by sipping mate de coca (coca tea). Even Pope Francis enjoyed a cup of the famous tea on a recent visit to Bolivia. At least one study showed positive outcomes associated with coca consumption for high-altitude climbers, but coca tea’s efficacy in staving off or relieving altitude sickness is largely anecdotal.

Travelers to the Andes can engage in various traditions carried through the centuries, though controversy exists over whether some of these activities are truly ancient practices or simply tourist traps. One tradition for which there is evidence is the reading of coca leaves for insight into the future.

The first mention of this practice appeared in 1571 in the chronicles of Cristobal de Molina, who describes a ritual in which the leaves were burned by a specific type of hechicero (sorcerer) who would then read the signs produced by the burning leaves to predict the future. Other tales from the period recount coca readers chewing leaves, spitting the juice into their hands, and watching the way it ran down their fingers to predict positive or negative outcomes. Still others claim the cocapirikuy, the priest in charge of official divination for the empire, would sprinkle coca leaves over a mat, reading the shapes to determine the future. However the ritual was carried out, coca leaves were believed to forge a connection between the gods and their messengers on earth, and consuming the leaves before meditating and communing with the gods was practiced among priests of various Indigenous tribes.

Today, it is this third practice of reading leaves dropped onto a mat that lives on, with different variations in different communities: some include both participants chewing coca, some involve prayers to the Indigenous gods, and some specialize in particular kinds of questions or concerns. And while travelers to the Andes can seek out a reading of dubious authenticity, the practice continues not to entertain tourists but to provide guidance to the Quechua, Aymara, and other Indigenous communities still living in the region.

Though cultivation is restricted, coca is grown legally for a number of purposes in Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia today, among which are a variety of consumer products. Coca can be found in candy, cosmetics, and various supplements. Recent efforts to destigmatize coca have resulted in its use in imaginative new ways.

Drinks made with coca are perhaps the least surprising, given the existence of mate de coca, but modern entrepreneurs are employing the leaf in new ways. One innovator in Colombia has produced a viche, sugar cane liquor, with coca leaf; El Viejo Roble distillery in Bolivia produces a coca-infused beer; and the Coca Nasa company sells Coca Sek, a coca-infused energy drink.

In the same vein, coca-infused candy has been found in the Andes for decades, but regional chefs are finding intriguing new ways to incorporate coca into food, particularly in Lima, Peru, which has been popping up on lists of the world’s top culinary destinations for the last decade. Central Restaurante offers a coca leaf bread, while Astrid y Gastón sells a coca-encrusted salad. Other restaurants throughout the Andes are infusing their dishes, particularly desserts, with coca through coca flour, coca butter, and coca leaf dust.

Modern efforts to utilize the plant go beyond just food and drink. Pajarita Caucana has used coca leaves to create natural dyes for silk yarn. By combining the leaf with various substances to alter the pH of the dye bath, the company has managed to produce 96 distinct colors, an array of yellows, greens, and browns.

Coca-Cola’s famous name came partly from the coca plant, and despite popular misconceptions, coca is still used to brew the soft drink. Though the secret recipe for Coke remains, well, secret, two of its key ingredients have long been known: coca leaf and kola, a nut from Africa that contains caffeine. When it was first brewed by John Pemberton in 1886, patent “medicines” were all the rage, including one that contained both cocaine, recently isolated from the coca plant by industrious scientists, and wine. Pemberton added kola and began peddling his own French Wine Coca. He ultimately swapped the wine with other flavorings, creating a carbonated syrup he called a “brain tonic and intellectual beverage.”

By the early 20th century, opposition to cocaine-infused products had ramped up, and the company’s then-owner removed the ingredient. To keep using the name, though, he switched to using decocainized leaves in his product. Through decades of increasingly restrictive national and international anti-narcotics legislation, special permission continued to be granted to the Coca-Cola company by the US government to import coca leaves, from which the cocaine is removed before being used to flavor everyone’s favorite soda.

7. Coca Was—and Remains—Sacred

By the time the Inca Empire began its expansion from Cusco, coca had become sacred to many Indigenous peoples in present-day South America. Without written records, it’s unclear when this belief arose and whether the Inca adopted it from other cultures—or subsequently imposed it on others. Spanish records confirm that the Inca believed the coca leaf to be a gift from the gods, even assigning it its own goddess, Mama Coca. A number of 16th-century chronicles attest to coca being used as an offering to various gods, including Viracocha and Pariacaca.

These references include a manuscript by Martín de Murúa, Historia del origen y genealogía real de los reyes inças del Perú (History of the origin and royal genealogy of Peru’s Inca kings), which features an image of two Indigenous men making offerings to the god Titicaca, one labeled “coca.” Other chronicles detail the burning of coca as an offering to the gods to ensure good harvests, its inclusion in the offerings burnt to honor the Sapa Inca upon his death, and the need for worshippers approaching sacred altars to have coca in their mouths. It’s clear from these many depictions that the coca leaf played a central role in nearly every kind of religious ceremony and celebration.

Though the Spanish colonizers worked hard to dismantle the Indigenous belief system and replace it with Catholicism, various communities in the Andes still believe coca is sacred today, including the Quechua in Peru and Aymara in Bolivia. They continue, among other ritual practices, to make offerings to apus and huacas (spirits and sacred places or things) in the form of kintus, groupings of coca leaves—often three to represent the three realms—held up and offered with a prayer before being chewed. International restrictions on coca leaf cultivation continue to be opposed by Andean countries, Bolivia in particular, because they violate Indigenous cultural and religious heritage and stigmatize a plant that facilitated their relationships with their gods for millennia.