Coca

The sacred leaves of the Andes – for thousands of years chewing coca has helped mountain people cope with altitude, cold and fatigue.

Coca is a shrub growing 2–3 m tall, with oval, light green leaves marked on the underside by two distinctive lines running parallel to the midrib. It bears small, yellowish-white flowers, and its fruits are small red drupes. The leaves contain small amounts of alkaloids, above all cocaine (about 0.5–1%). Chewed with alkaline ash (llipta) or brewed as an infusion, they act as a mild stimulant, suppress hunger and ease the symptoms of altitude sickness.

Significance in the country

In the Inca state coca was a sacred plant, used in rituals and by the elite; today chewing the leaves (chacchado) and drinking mate de coca are legal and widespread in Peru, and three coca leaves are offered to Pachamama. The legal leaf trade is run by the state company ENACO, but Peru is also one of the largest producers of leaves illegally processed into cocaine.

Where it grows

On the eastern slopes of the Andes, in the zone of cloud forests and warm valleys – in La Convención (Cuzco), in the valleys of the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro rivers (VRAEM), along the Huallaga and in Sandia Province in Puno.

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