Now, an organic chocolate company called Taza has finally taken it to the next level.  Check it out here!

Enjoy.  When I sip my morning mate, I sometimes pretend that the scrub jays in the oak trees outside my window are actually toucans.  I admit it's kind of a stretch ...

Today, cassina is commonly grown as an ornamental shrub.  The Native Americans of the southeast had a much more interesting use for this plant.  They brewed a caffeinated beverage called Asi or Black Drink from its leaves.  Drinking large quantities of Asi was a vital ritual performed at all important meetings.  They would brew a big pot of the beverage and share it from an engraved conch shell.  Asi was believed to purge the drinker of impurities and falsehoods.

Like chicory, Labrador tea, and New Jersey tea, colonists drank cassina when they couldn't get coffee or tea.  Unlike those other herbs, cassina provided a healthy dose of caffeine.

I don't know of anyone growing cassina for consumption today.  It seems to be a lost art.  I'd love to see someone revive and recover this home-grown tradition.  Check out more info on cassina at wikipedia.

I use my bombilla to drink yerba mate every morning.  I drink tons of terere with this thing, too.  I also use it to drink rooibos at night, green or black tea whenever I want some variety, mint from my garden, ginger from my fridge, cowboy coffee on backpacking trips, douglass fir tips from the Ashland watershed, and sage leaves from the eastern Oregon desert. 

I could keep writing all day about the different recipes I've enjoyed with this thing.  Basically, what I'm saying is that if you have a bombilla and a little knowledge, you can become your own herbalist.  It's a tool for life.  Sincerely.