Кока

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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