Yaupon Brothers: We’re an American Tea
In this space, we usually focus on South Florida artisans. But when we met Bryon White of Yaupon Brothers American Tea at last year’s Seed Food and Wine Festival, we knew we had to take a road trip to Edgewater, just south of New Smyrna Beach, to check out his tea operation.
Young Explorers
The shallow Callalisa Creek winds through dense stands of native saw palmetto, live oak, wild coffee, cabbage palms and Simpson’s stopper in a tract flanked by Indian River to its west and the Atlantic on the east. As kids, Bryon, 33, and his brother Kyle, 26, used to play in these woods. Now, they’re leading us on a walk through this tranquil maritime hammock.
A self-described plant nerd, Bryon knows every plant on the path. He ponders the age of a native saw palmetto – “they can live 100 years” – and points out sabal palms, Florida’s state tree, shoestring ferns and delicate butterfly orchid blooms overhead. “Native plants are resilient,” he says. Whether used in landscaping or farming, natives are smart environmental choices, he says. “They require fewer inputs, like pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides,” meaning less pollution in the soil and waterways.
He stops at a native yaupon holly plant (Ilex vomitoria Aiton), the reason we’re here. There’s a tender spring flush of leaves on the spindly shrubs. These small, shiny leaves make up their American Green Yaupon Holly Tea. Harvesting is easy; leaves are simply stripped from the branches. In this 67-acre park, their company has an agreement with the city that lets them collect yaupon in sustainable amounts in return for destroying invasive plant species like Brazilian pepper. They also own a 12-acre parcel.
Native American Traditions
The story of consuming yaupon tea goes back thousands of years. “I’m amazed by its history,” says Bryon. Native Americans treasured it for its energizing properties. Locally, the Timucua regularly gathered to share black drink, a decoction of the parched yaupon leaves served in a shell cup. They then induced ritual vomiting as a ceremonial purifier. Popular with traders, yaupon was shipped to Europe by 1700, but sales abruptly stopped when, some speculate, traditional tea merchants launched a smear campaign against it. Also called cassina, the caffeinated yaupon made a brief comeback during the Civil War when coffee was blockaded. But in the past 100 years, its use as food was largely disregarded.
Now, Bryon believes, it’s time to bring yaupon tea back as a delicious beverage that represents a commonsense solution to many sustainability issues. “This didn’t have to cross an ocean to get here,” he says. “It’s right in our backyard.”
Building a Business
In 2012, the Whites co-founded Yaupon Asi Tea, which became Yaupon Brothers American Tea when retired USAF fighter pilot Mark Steele, Kyle’s mentor at New Smyrna Beach High School, joined the team in 2015. Bryon is CEO, having left his career in law enforcement; Kyle operates the Orlando sales office while attending the University of Central Florida; and Steele serves as production manager, finding or building their tea processing machines. These include withering racks to dry the tea, mills to break up the pieces, sifters to remove big particles and machines to fill teabags.
Inside their small Edgewater warehouse, the team also comes up with different flavors. By itself, yaupon tea is light-bodied and crisp. “It’s clean tasting, grassy, no tannins, refreshing even when it’s hot,” says Kyle. “It’s also a good canvas for blending.” One of their blends, Natural Wellness, contains Yaupon, astragulus, echinacea, elderberry, ginger and peppermint. Florida Chai is flavored with organic cinnamon, clove, ginger, cardamom and peppercorn. Yaupon matcha powder is made from finely powdered leaves.
In the long term, they know walking in the woods to harvest yaupon tea isn’t a viable farming option. The Yaupon Brothers American Tea wants to help others grow yaupon. Working with UF/IFAS to develop sustainable farming techniques for Florida farmers, they now have 4,000 trees in the ground at the first Florida tea plantations, working to create an alternative crop to citrus and other non-native crops.
“We believe yaupon will be the economic backbone of Florida agriculture in the years to come,” says Bryon. “We have to start small, but once our trees are established, they can be sustained without irrigation, fertilizer or pesticides – the advantage of growing a Florida native plant in Florida.”
From Tree to Tea in Three Days
Yaupon Brothers Tea is processed in their small facility in Edgewater. They employ three harvesters to collect the leaves from trees in their 12 acres of certified organic maritime hammock they own, and the 83 acres of wild-crop organic yaupon holly in central Florida. Within 12 hours of harvest, they weigh, wash and sanitize the leaves, then place them on a withering rack that dries them to 12% moisture. They are then graded and sifted, and further broken down in a Chinese hammer mill. If the tea is blended with other flavors, like their blend of raspberry, rose, hibiscus, roselle and lemon peel, that’s done before moving to packaging. The tea is packed into machines that fill and seal teabags, which then go into the oven to take out more moisture. “Tea is a low-risk food because it goes in boiling water,” Kyle says. It’s then packed into compostable containers. They also use refillable tins.
Order Yaupon Brothers American Tea at yauponbrothers.com. You can also find it at Heritage Market in Homestead.
Yerba Mate: Yaupon’s South American Cousin
This species of the holly genus, yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is consumed in South America, especially Uruguay and Paraguay. Dried leaves and twigs are added to the customary gourd or cup, and hot water is added to make the infusion. In the mate ritual, friends take a sip through a metal straw, refill and share the cup with the next person. Pablo Liberato, who sells different types of organic and regular mate at Gaucho Ranch, says his South American customers are “mostly into the mate ritual at the beach,” but it’s an appealing beverage at home and work. Among the brands of yerba mate at Gaucho Ranch is Matear, a local business where they handcraft blends using the leaves with herbs, spices and flowers.
