Coca

NaturalPOPULAR & WEIRDalkaloid-bearing leaf · tea · flavouring

HeartPyramid

—Strength

—Tenacity

2Origins

Specimen

Erythroxylum coca

Definition

Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Its leaves contain cocaine, a mild stimulant when the leaves are chewed or consumed as tea.

BITTER SWEET

Type: Ingredient
Olfactive family: Green
Subfamily: Green notes
Cluster: Green leafy notes
Source: Plant (leaves)
Chemical class: Natural plant material containing tropane alkaloids (leaf)

Instruments

Pyramid

TTop

HHeart

BBase

Producing countries

Peru Bolivia

Scent

Fresh samples of the dried leaf have a strong tea-like aroma, while older leaves have a camphoraceous smell. The volatile oil of the leaf consists principally of methyl salicylate, which smells of wintergreen.

In PREMIEREPEAU

DISCOVERY SET7 × 2 ml →EXTRAIT DE PARFUMThe seven extraits →

The Full Story

Erythroxylum coca is one of the two species of cultivated coca. The plant resembles a blackthorn bush and grows to a height of 2 to 3 m. Its leaves are thin, opaque and oval, and taper at the extremities. The small yellowish-white flowers develop into red berries. Unlike Erythroxylum novogranatense, it requires very acidic soil conditions.

Chewing coca leaves dates back at least 8,000 years in South America. Coca use was widespread under Inca rule. Genomic analysis indicates that coca was domesticated two or three separate times from the wild species Erythroxylum gracilipes. The volatile oil of the leaves was first observed and prepared in 1860. Coca tea, also called mate de coca, is a herbal tea made from the raw or dried leaves of the plant. The tea is greenish yellow and has a mild bitter flavour similar to green tea, with a more organic sweetness. It is most commonly consumed in the Andes, especially in Peru.

The cocaine alkaloid content of dry Erythroxylum coca var. coca leaves ranges from 0.23% to 0.96%. Tropane-type alkaloids of the plant include cocaine, ecgonine and benzoylecgonine, and its pyrrolidine-type alkaloids include hygrine and cuscohygrine. A cup of coca tea prepared from one gram of leaves contains approximately 4.2 mg of organic coca alkaloid.

Coca leaf is the raw material for the manufacture of the drug cocaine. Outside South America, coca leaf is generally illegal or heavily restricted, often treated similarly to cocaine.

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Related: Alpha Pinene · Angelica · Angelica Root · Angelica Root Oil · Artemisia · Barrenwort · Beachheather · Behini Tree

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method

The yield of volatile oil from the leaves is 0.13 per cent from young, undeveloped leaves and 0.06 per cent from fully developed ones. Cocaine is extracted from coca with several solvents in an acid-base extraction, which efficiently isolates the alkaloids from the plant material. Coca tea can be decocainized, as coffee is decaffeinated.

Formula: Complex natural mixture (key constituents: cocaine C₁₇H₂₁NO₄)
Botanical: Erythroxylum coca
Appearance: Thin, opaque, oval leaves with a green tint

IFRA status

See note

No IFRA Standard for the material itself (51st Amendment)

In Perfumery

Coca is used industrially in the cosmetics and food industries. A decocainized coca leaf extract serves as one of the flavouring ingredients of Coca-Cola. Coca leaves are used commercially in teas, foods, cosmetics and beverages. In the Andes, commercially made coca teas, granola bars, cookies and hard candies are sold in most stores and supermarkets.

Role in the formula

01flavouring

Available as

essential oil absolute