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Bibliography

145 sources behind 167 footnotes.

Every footnote in this book points to an entry here, and every entry points back to the chapters that cite it. Scholarly work is given with a DOI, European Medicines Agency monographs with their EMA/HMPC number and the date the committee adopted them, and older sources in the usual way. A web address appears only where the source exists nowhere else.

Part One: The History

  1. Behar, Ruth. “Sexual Witchcraft, Colonialism, and Women’s Powers: Views from the Mexican Inquisition.” In Sexuality and Marriage in Colonial Latin America, edited by Asunción Lavrin, 178–206. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. Cited in chapter 6
  2. Berna, Francesco, Paul Goldberg, Liora Kolska Horwitz et al. “Microstratigraphic Evidence of in situ Fire in the Acheulean Strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape Province, South Africa.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, no. 20 (2012): E1215–E1220. DOI 10.1073/pnas.1117620109. Cited in chapter 3
  3. Brochu, Christopher A., Jackson Njau, Robert J. Blumenschine and Llewellyn D. Densmore. “A New Horned Crocodile from the Plio-Pleistocene Hominid Sites at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.” PLoS ONE 5, no. 2 (2010): e9333. DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0009333. Cited in chapter 1
  4. Bunn, Christian, Peter Läderach, Oriana Ovalle Rivera and Dieter Kirschke. “A Bitter Cup: Climate Change Profile of Global Production of Arabica and Robusta Coffee.” Climatic Change 129 (2015): 89–101. DOI 10.1007/s10584-014-1306-x. Cited in chapter 11
  5. Carrigan, Matthew A., Oleg Uryasev, Carole B. Frye et al. “Hominids Adapted to Metabolize Ethanol Long Before Human-Directed Fermentation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 2 (2015): 458–463. DOI 10.1073/pnas.1404167111. Cited in chapter 1
  6. Clendinnen, Inga. Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517–1570. Cambridge Latin American Studies 61. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Cited in chapter 6
  7. “Coca Colla Goes on Sale in Bolivia.” Drug War Chronicle, April 16, 2010. stopthedrugwar.org. Accessed September 21, 2026. Cited in chapter 10
  8. “Coca Kick in Drinks Spurs Export Fears.” The Washington Times, April 19, 2004. washingtontimes.com/news/2004/apr/19/20040419-093635-4754r. Accessed October 4, 2026. Quotes the spokesman of Peru’s state-owned National Coca Company: Stepan buys about 100 metric tons of dried Peruvian coca leaves a year for the extract made at Maywood. Cited in chapter 10
  9. Coe, Sophie D. and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate. 2nd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Cited in chapter 6
  10. Colmenero de Ledesma, Antonio. Curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del chocolate. Madrid: Francisco Martínez, 1631. English translation by James Wadsworth, 1640; French translation by René Moreau, 1643. Cited in chapter 6
  11. Commutation Act 1784 (24 Geo. III, Sess. 2, c. 38), “An Act for Repealing the Several Duties on Tea…” Royal assent August 20, 1784. Cited in chapter 8
  12. COMPASS Pathways. “COMPASS Pathways Receives FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Psilocybin Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression.” Press release, October 23, 2018. Cited in chapter 14
  13. COMPASS Pathways. US Patent No. 11,149,044, “Preparation of Psilocybin, Different Polymorphic Forms, Intermediates, Formulations and Their Use.” Granted October 19, 2021. The company’s claims cover crystalline psilocybin (Polymorph A), its preparation and its use, not the molecule. Cited in chapter 12
  14. Conselho Nacional de Políticas sobre Drogas (Brazil). Resolução No. 1, de 25 de janeiro de 2010. Diário Oficial da União, January 26, 2010. Directs the organs of public administration to observe the council’s rules for the religious use of ayahuasca, and states the first of its deontological principles: the tea is the decoction of Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, and its use “é restrito a rituais religiosos, em locais autorizados pelas respectivas direções das entidades usuárias.” Cited in chapter 9, chapter 14
  15. Constitution of the United States, Amendment XXI. Ratified December 5, 1933. Repeals Amendment XVIII, ratified January 16, 1919 and in force from January 17, 1920. Cited in chapter 14
  16. Convention of Peking between Great Britain and China. Signed October 24, 1860. Ratifies the Anglo-Chinese Treaty of Tientsin of June 1858. Cited in chapter 8
  17. Crop Trust. “Svalbard Global Seed Vault.” croptrust.org/work/svalbard-global-seed-vault. Storage at −18 °C. Accessed September 21, 2026. Cited in chapter 11
  18. Davis, Aaron P., Helen Chadburn, Justin Moat et al. “High Extinction Risk for Wild Coffee Species and Implications for Coffee Sector Sustainability.” Science Advances 5, no. 1 (2019): eaav3473. DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aav3473. Cited in chapter 11
  19. Dunne, Julie, Richard P. Evershed, Mélanie Salque et al. “First Dairying in Green Saharan Africa in the Fifth Millennium BC.” Nature 486, no. 7403 (2012): 390–394. DOI 10.1038/nature11186. Cited in chapter 1
  20. Dussert, Stéphane, Nathalie Chabrillange, Gérard Rocquelin et al. “Tolerance of Coffee (Coffea spp.) Seeds to Ultra-Low Temperature Exposure in Relation to Calorimetric Properties of Tissue Water, Lipid Composition, and Cooling Procedure.” Physiologia Plantarum 112, no. 4 (2001): 495–504. DOI 10.1034/j.1399-3054.2001.1120406.x. Cited in chapter 11
  21. Ellis, Markman, Richard Coulton and Matthew Mauger. Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf That Conquered the World. London: Reaktion Books, 2015. Cited in chapter 8
  22. Ellis, R. H., T. D. Hong and E. H. Roberts. “An Intermediate Category of Seed Storage Behaviour? I. Coffee.” Journal of Experimental Botany 41, no. 9 (1990): 1167–1174. DOI 10.1093/jxb/41.9.1167. Coffee seed survives drying only in part, and does not survive drying combined with low temperature. Cited in chapter 11
  23. Elmore, Bartow J. Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015. Cited in chapter 10
  24. Estrada, Álvaro. María Sabina: Her Life and Chants. Translated with commentaries by Henry Munn. Santa Barbara: Ross-Erikson, 1981. First published as Vida de María Sabina: la sabia de los hongos, Mexico City: Siglo XXI, 1977. Cited in chapter 12
  25. Few, Martha. “Chocolate, Sex, and Disorderly Women in Late-Seventeenth- and Early-Eighteenth-Century Guatemala.” Ethnohistory 52, no. 4 (2005): 673–687. DOI 10.1215/00141801-52-4-673. Cited in chapter 6
  26. Fortune, Robert. A Journey to the Tea Countries of China; Including Sung-Lo and the Bohea Hills; with a Short Notice of the East India Company’s Tea Plantations in the Himalaya Mountains. London: John Murray, 1852. Cited in chapter 8
  27. Gage, Thomas. The English-American His Travail by Sea and Land: or, A New Survey of the West-India’s. London: R. Cotes, 1648. Cited in chapter 6
  28. Gagliano, Joseph A. Coca Prohibition in Peru: The Historical Debates. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994. Cited in chapter 9, chapter 10
  29. Gautier, Théophile. “Le Club des Hachichins.” Revue des Deux Mondes 13 (February 1, 1846): 520–535. A member’s account of the monthly sessions at the Hôtel Pimodan on the Île Saint-Louis, where a doctor hands round the green paste. Cited in chapter 7
  30. Goldman Environmental Prize. “Leydy Pech, 2020 Goldman Prize Recipient, North America.” goldmanprize.org/recipient/leydy-pech. Accessed September 21, 2026. Cited in chapter 14
  31. Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. Cited in chapter 7
  32. Gootenberg, Paul. Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008. Cited in chapter 10
  33. Hall, Grant D., Stanley M. Tarka, W. Jeffrey Hurst et al. “Cacao Residues in Ancient Maya Vessels from Rio Azul, Guatemala.” American Antiquity 55, no. 1 (1990): 138–143. DOI 10.2307/281499. Cited in chapter 6
  34. Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, Pub. L. No. 63-223, 38 Stat. 785 (1914). Signed December 17, 1914; in force March 1, 1915. Cited in chapter 10
  35. Haskell, Crystal F., David O. Kennedy, Anthea L. Milne et al. “The Effects of L-Theanine, Caffeine and Their Combination on Cognition and Mood.” Biological Psychology 77, no. 2 (2008): 113–122. DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.09.008. Cited in chapter 14
  36. Hattox, Ralph S. Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. Near Eastern Studies 3. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1985. Cited in chapter 5
  37. Hodacs, Hanna. “Substituting Coffee and Tea in the Eighteenth Century: A Rural and Material History with Global Implications.” Journal of Global History 18, no. 3 (2023): 461–480. DOI 10.1017/S1740022823000086. The Swedish substitute project of 1745–1746, set against “the negative balance of trade caused by the importing of exotic ‘luxuries’,” and the Collegium medicum’s notice “on the abuse and overspending, that tea and coffee drinking entail.” Cited in chapter 9
  38. Hofmann, Albert, Roger Heim, Arthur Brack and Hans Kobel. “Psilocybin, ein psychotroper Wirkstoff aus dem mexikanischen Rauschpilz Psilocybe mexicana Heim.” Experientia 14, no. 3 (1958): 107–109. DOI 10.1007/BF02159243. Cited in chapter 12
  39. Holmstedt, Bo, Jan-Erik Lindgren, Laurent Rivier and Timothy Plowman. “Cocaine in Blood of Coca Chewers.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology 1, no. 1 (1979): 69–78. DOI 10.1016/0378-8741(79)90017-5. Cited in chapter 10
  40. Huffman, Michael A. and Mohamedi Seifu. “Observations on the Illness and Consumption of a Possibly Medicinal Plant Vernonia amygdalina (Del.), by a Wild Chimpanzee in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania.” Primates 30, no. 1 (1989): 51–63. DOI 10.1007/BF02381210. Cited in chapter 2
  41. Huffman, Michael A. “Self-Medicative Behavior in the African Great Apes: An Evolutionary Perspective into the Origins of Human Traditional Medicine.” BioScience 51, no. 8 (2001): 651–661. DOI 10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0651:SMBITA]2.0.CO;2. Cited in chapter 2
  42. Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Peru). Resolución Directoral Nacional No. 836/INC, Lima, June 24, 2008. Declares the knowledge and traditional uses of ayahuasca practised by native Amazonian communities to be cultural heritage of the nation. Cited in chapter 9, chapter 14
  43. Jansen, Suze A., Iris Kleerekooper, Zonne L. M. Hofman et al. “Grayanotoxin Poisoning: ‘Mad Honey Disease’ and Beyond.” Cardiovascular Toxicology 12, no. 3 (2012): 208–215. DOI 10.1007/s12012-012-9162-2. Cited in chapter 7
  44. Jiang, Jianrong, Guoquan Lu, Qing Wang and Shuya Wei. “The Analysis and Identification of Charred Suspected Tea Remains Unearthed from Warring State Period Tomb.” Scientific Reports 11 (2021): 16557. DOI 10.1038/s41598-021-95393-w. Cited in chapter 4
  45. Juneja, Lekh Raj, Djong-Chi Chu, Tsutomu Okubo et al. “L-Theanine — a Unique Amino Acid of Green Tea and Its Relaxation Effect in Humans.” Trends in Food Science & Technology 10, no. 6–7 (1999): 199–204. DOI 10.1016/S0924-2244(99)00044-8. Cited in chapter 4
  46. Leakey, Mary D. and Richard L. Hay. “Pliocene Footprints in the Laetolil Beds at Laetoli, Northern Tanzania.” Nature 278, no. 5702 (1979): 317–323. DOI 10.1038/278317a0. Cited in chapter 1
  47. Leonard, Irving A. “Peyote and the Mexican Inquisition, 1620.” American Anthropologist 44, no. 2 (1942): 324–326. DOI 10.1525/aa.1942.44.2.02a00240. Cited in chapter 7
  48. Ley 23.737 (Argentina). Sanctioned September 21, 1989; promulgated October 10, 1989. Article 15: possession and consumption of coca leaf in its natural state, for chewing or for use as an infusion, is not to be considered possession or consumption of narcotics. Cited in chapter 9
  49. Knutsson, Anna and Hanna Hodacs. “When Coffee Was Banned: Strategies of Labour and Leisure among Stockholm’s Poor Women, 1794–1796 and 1799–1802.” Scandinavian Economic History Review 71, no. 2 (2023): 176–198. DOI 10.1080/03585522.2021.2000489. Cited in chapter 9
  50. Linnaeus, Carl (praeses) and Henricus Sparschuch (respondent). Dissertatio medica, in qua potus coffeae leviter adumbratur. Uppsala, 1761. Reprinted in Amoenitates Academicae, vol. 6, Stockholm, 1763. Cited in chapter 9
  51. Louisiana State Act 159 (2005), codified at La. Rev. Stat. 40:989.1, “Unlawful Production, Manufacture, Distribution, or Possession of Hallucinogenic Plants.” Signed June 28, 2005; effective August 8, 2005. Cited in chapter 7
  52. Lu, Houyuan, Jianping Zhang, Yimin Yang et al. “Earliest Tea as Evidence for One Branch of the Silk Road across the Tibetan Plateau.” Scientific Reports 6 (2016): 18955. DOI 10.1038/srep18955. Cited in chapter 4
  53. Lyons, Taylor and Robin L. Carhart-Harris. “Increased Nature Relatedness and Decreased Authoritarian Political Views after Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression.” Journal of Psychopharmacology 32, no. 7 (2018): 811–819. DOI 10.1177/0269881117748902. Cited in chapter 13
  54. Marshall, Jonathan. “Opium and the Politics of Gangsterism in Nationalist China, 1927–1945.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 8, no. 3 (1976): 19–48. DOI 10.1080/14672715.1976.10404414. Cited in chapter 8
  55. Martin, Pearl Y., Jenny Laing, Robin Martin and Melanie Mitchell. “Caffeine, Cognition, and Persuasion: Evidence for Caffeine Increasing the Systematic Processing of Persuasive Messages.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 35, no. 1 (2005): 160–182. DOI 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2005.tb02098.x. Cited in chapter 13
  56. McGovern, Patrick E., Juzhong Zhang, Jigen Tang et al. “Fermented Beverages of Pre- and Proto-Historic China.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, no. 51 (2004): 17593–17598. DOI 10.1073/pnas.0407921102. Cited in chapter 3
  57. Moreau de Tours, Jacques-Joseph. Du hachisch et de l’aliénation mentale: études psychologiques. Paris: Fortin, Masson et Cie, 1845. Cited in chapter 7
  58. Mui, Hoh-Cheung and Lorna H. Mui. “The Commutation Act and the Tea Trade in Britain 1784–1793.” The Economic History Review 16, no. 2 (1963): 234–253. DOI 10.1111/j.1468-0289.1963.tb01728.x. Cited in chapter 8
  59. Naironus, Faustus (Antonio Fausto Naironi). De saluberrima potione cahue seu cafe nuncupata discursus. Rome, 1671. Cited in chapter 5
  60. Negrín Muñoz, Eduardo. “Violación del derecho a la consulta indígena: siembra de soya transgénica en comunidades mayas del estado de Campeche, México.” RICSH Revista Iberoamericana de las Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas 7, no. 13 (2018): 51–71. DOI 10.23913/ricsh.v7i13.140. Gives the permit of June 6, 2012 and its extent: 253,500 hectares across seven states. The agency’s own later press release dates the permit a day earlier, to June 5; the day is disputed, the year and the extent are not. Cited in chapter 14
  61. Ngo Mpeck, M.-L., E. Asaah and Z. Tchoundjeu. “Contribution of Tree Domestication to the Conservation of Indigenous Medicinal Plants of African Forests.” Paper for the XII World Forestry Congress, Québec City, 2003. fao.org/4/XII/0870-B1.htm. Accessed October 4, 2026. On Pausinystalia johimbe: “At least 100 tons are supplied annually (120 tons) to Europe from Cameroon.” Cited in chapter 9
  62. Nordisk familjebok. 2nd ed. Vol. 13, Johan–Kikare. Stockholm, 1910. “Kaffe,” cols. 535–536. runeberg.org/nfbm/0292.html. Accessed October 5, 2026. The Collegium medicum notice of 1746, the consumption tax of 1747 graded by class, and the coffee ban carried by the peasant estate at the Riksdag of 1756 in revenge on the other estates, which had refused the peasants free distilling. Cited in chapter 9
  63. Nowacka, Agnieszka, Martyna Śniegocka, Maciej Śniegocki et al. “Multifaced Nature of Yohimbine — a Promising Therapeutic Potential or a Risk?” International Journal of Molecular Sciences 25, no. 23 (2024): 12856. DOI 10.3390/ijms252312856. Cited in chapter 9
  64. Okrent, Daniel. Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. New York: Scribner, 2010. Cited in chapter 14
  65. Palhano-Fontes, Fernanda, Dayanna Barreto, Heloisa Onias et al. “Rapid Antidepressant Effects of the Psychedelic Ayahuasca in Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.” Psychological Medicine 49, no. 4 (2019): 655–663. DOI 10.1017/S0033291718001356. Cited in chapter 9
  66. Pendergrast, Mark. For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It. 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Cited in chapter 10
  67. Pharmacy Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 121), “An Act to Regulate the Sale of Poisons, and Alter and Amend the Pharmacy Act 1852.” United Kingdom. Cited in chapter 7
  68. Pickering, Travis Rayne, Ron J. Clarke and Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi. “Role of Carnivores in the Accumulation of the Sterkfontein Member 4 Hominid Assemblage: A Taphonomic Reassessment of the Complete Hominid Fossil Sample (1936–1999).” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 125, no. 1 (2004): 1–15. DOI 10.1002/ajpa.10278. Cited in chapter 1
  69. Saar, Maret. “Ethnomycological Data from Siberia and North-East Asia on the Effect of Amanita muscaria.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology 31, no. 2 (1991): 157–173. DOI 10.1016/0378-8741(91)90002-U. Cited in chapter 7
  70. Sahagún, Bernardino de. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. Translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. Santa Fe: School of American Research; Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1950–1982. Book 9, The Merchants, 1959. Cited in chapter 6
  71. Sahagún, Bernardino de. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. Translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. Santa Fe: School of American Research; Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1950–1982. Book 11, Earthly Things, 1963. Cited in chapter 7
  72. Sakato, Yajiro. “Studies on the Chemical Constituents of Tea: Part III. On a New Amide Theanine.” Nippon Nōgeikagaku Kaishi (Journal of the Agricultural Chemical Society of Japan) 23, no. 6 (1950): 262–267. Submitted August 1949. DOI 10.1271/nogeikagaku1924.23.262. Cited in chapter 4
  73. Sarreal, Julia J. S. Yerba Mate: The Drink That Shaped a Nation. Oakland: University of California Press, 2023. The first chapter, “From Indigenous Staple to Colonial Commodity,” the oracle on 24, the bans of 1596 and 1603 and the appeal to the Inquisition on 32, the royal ruling of 1618 and the missions’ output on 35. Cited in chapter 9
  74. Scalabrin, Simone, Lucile Toniutti, Gabriele Di Gaspero et al. “A Single Polyploidization Event at the Origin of the Tetraploid Genome of Coffea arabica Is Responsible for the Extremely Low Genetic Variation in Wild and Cultivated Germplasm.” Scientific Reports 10 (2020): 4642. DOI 10.1038/s41598-020-61216-7. Cited in chapter 11
  75. Sesso, Howard D., JoAnn E. Manson, Aaron K. Aragaki et al. “Effect of Cocoa Flavanol Supplementation for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Events: The COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS) Randomized Clinical Trial.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 115, no. 6 (2022): 1490–1500. DOI 10.1093/ajcn/nqac055. Cited in chapter 14
  76. Shao, Ling-Xiao, Clara Liao, Ian Gregg et al. “Psilocybin Induces Rapid and Persistent Growth of Dendritic Spines in Frontal Cortex in vivo.” Neuron 109, no. 16 (2021): 2535–2544.e4. DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.06.008. Cited in chapter 13
  77. Shennong bencao jing 神農本草經. Reconstructed by Sun Xingyan and Sun Fengyi, 1799. The entry ku cai 苦菜 gives tu cao 荼草 as another name and says that long use calms the heart, sharpens perception and shortens sleep; it does not call the plant an antidote. Cited in chapter 4
  78. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, as amended by the 1972 Protocol. United Nations. Article 49 requires coca-leaf chewing to be abolished. Cited in chapter 9, chapter 10
  79. Stuart, David. “The Río Azul Cacao Pot: Epigraphic Observations on the Function of a Maya Ceramic Vessel.” Antiquity 62, no. 234 (1988): 153–157. DOI 10.1017/S0003598X00073634. Cited in chapter 6
  80. Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (Mexico), Segunda Sala. Amparo en revisión 499/2015. Decided November 4, 2015. Cited in chapter 14
  81. Teng, Ssu-yü and John K. Fairbank. China’s Response to the West: A Documentary Survey, 1839–1923. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954. Lin Zexu’s letter to Queen Victoria, 1839, is document 1. Cited in chapter 8
  82. Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Commerce between Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and the Emperor of China (Treaty of Nanking). Signed August 29, 1842. Cited in chapter 8
  83. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “Bolivia to Re-accede to UN Drug Convention, While Making Exception on Coca Leaf Chewing.” January 2013. Bolivia’s denunciation of the 1961 Single Convention took effect January 1, 2012; its re-accession with a reservation on coca chewing took effect February 10, 2013. Cited in chapter 10
  84. Texier, Pierre-Jean, Guillaume Porraz, John Parkington et al. “A Howiesons Poort Tradition of Engraving Ostrich Eggshell Containers Dated to 60,000 Years Ago at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, South Africa.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, no. 14 (2010): 6180–6185. DOI 10.1073/pnas.0913047107. Cited in chapter 1
  85. United Nations. “Bolivian President Evo Morales Addresses the Commission on Narcotic Drugs,” Vienna, March 11, 2009. UNifeed, media.un.org/unifeed/en/asset/u090/u090311a. Accessed September 21, 2026. Cited in chapter 10
  86. Urban VIII. Cum ecclesiae (30 January 1642). Forbids taking tobacco, in any form, inside the churches of the diocese of Seville, under penalty of excommunication latae sententiae. Cited in chapter 7
  87. Usona Institute. “FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Usona Institute’s Psilocybin Program for Major Depressive Disorder.” Press release, November 22, 2019. Cited in chapter 14
  88. Wasson, R. Gordon. “Seeking the Magic Mushroom.” Life, May 13, 1957, 100–120. Cited in chapter 12
  89. Wasson, Valentina Pavlovna and R. Gordon Wasson. Mushrooms, Russia and History. 2 vols. New York: Pantheon Books, 1957. Limited edition of 512 copies. Cited in chapter 12
  90. Weyrich, Laura S., Sebastian Duchene, Julien Soubrier et al. “Neanderthal Behaviour, Diet, and Disease Inferred from Ancient DNA in Dental Calculus.” Nature 544, no. 7650 (2017): 357–361. DOI 10.1038/nature21674. Cited in chapter 1, chapter 2
  91. Wu, Xiaohong, Chi Zhang, Paul Goldberg et al. “Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China.” Science 336, no. 6089 (2012): 1696–1700. DOI 10.1126/science.1218643. Cited in chapter 3
  92. Xaman-Ha Connections. Listing for a private cacao ceremony in Tulum, “guided by a Mayan local shaman rooted in ancestral tradition,” from 119 US dollars per person, minimum two. xamanhaconnections.com/private-tours/cacao-ceremony-tulum. Accessed October 1, 2026. Cited in chapter 12
  93. Zabelina, Darya L. and Paul J. Silvia. “Percolating Ideas: The Effects of Caffeine on Creative Thinking and Problem Solving.” Consciousness and Cognition 79 (2020): 102899. DOI 10.1016/j.concog.2020.102899. Cited in chapter 13
  94. Zarrillo, Sonia, Nilesh Gaikwad, Claire Lanaud et al. “The Use and Domestication of Theobroma cacao during the Mid-Holocene in the Upper Amazon.” Nature Ecology & Evolution 2, no. 12 (2018): 1879–1888. DOI 10.1038/s41559-018-0697-x. Starch grains, theobromine and ancient DNA of cacao in pottery from Santa Ana–La Florida, Ecuador, about 5,300 years old. Cited in chapter 6
  95. Zhao, Zhen-jun, You-zhao Pan, Qin-jin Liu and Xing-hui Li. “Exposure Assessment of Lovastatin in Pu-erh Tea.” International Journal of Food Microbiology 164, no. 1 (2013): 26–31. DOI 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2013.03.018. Cited in chapter 4
  96. Zhou, Yongming. Anti-Drug Crusades in Twentieth-Century China: Nationalism, History, and State Building. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Cited in chapter 8

Part Two: The Recipes

    Monographs are cited by the number and the revision printed on the document itself, and by the date the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products adopted it — not the date the agency published it, which is later and differs. Titles keep the wording of the document: the committee called these Community herbal monographs until 2014 and European Union herbal monographs after.

  1. af Geijerstam, Peder, Annelie Joelsson, Karin Rådholm and Fredrik H. Nyström. “A Low Dose of Daily Licorice Intake Affects Renin, Aldosterone, and Home Blood Pressure in a Randomized Crossover Trial.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 119, no. 3 (2024): 682–691. DOI 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.01.011. Twenty-eight healthy volunteers, two-week periods, 100 mg of glycyrrhizic acid a day with the content independently measured — the first such trial to be randomized and controlled. Systolic home pressure rose by 3.1 mmHg (95% CI 0.8 to 5.4) and renin and aldosterone were suppressed. Potassium did not move: with a confirmed glycyrrhizic acid content, the authors note, it has fallen only at 500 mg a day and above. Their conclusion is that the safe limit may need reconsidering. Cited in chapter 37
  2. Arvinte, Ofelia Marioara, Lăcrimioara Senila, Anca Becze and Sonia Amariei. “Rowanberry — a Source of Bioactive Compounds and Their Biopharmaceutical Properties.” Plants 12, no. 18 (2023): 3225. DOI 10.3390/plants12183225. Gives parasorbic acid in the fruit as 4–7 mg/g of fresh weight, and its conversion by heat or frost into sorbic acid. Cited in chapter 30, chapter 31
  3. Brauner, Christina. “‘Without You’: ‘German Coffee’ and the Politics of Dis:connection.” Käte Hamburger Research Centre global dis:connect, LMU Munich, June 21, 2022. globaldisconnect.org/06/21/german-coffee-and-the-politics-of-disconnection. Accessed October 1, 2026. Quotes Christian G. Förster, Geschichte von der Erfindung und Einführung des Cichorien-Caffee (Bremen, 1773), 12 and 51, and cites Christian Hochmuth, Globale Güter – lokale Aneignung (Konstanz: UVK, 2008), 71–72, on the earlier promoters. Cited in chapter 32
  4. Chassagne, François, Xinyi Huang, James T. Lyles and Cassandra L. Quave. “Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial.” Frontiers in Microbiology 10 (2019): 775. DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00775. In Chinese medicine the seed, not the leaf, was the traditional part; a leaf extract entered Western medicine in 1964. Cited in chapter 19
  5. Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/2314 of 7 December 2015 Authorising a Health Claim Made on Foods, Other than Those Referring to the Reduction of Disease Risk and to Children’s Development and Health and Amending Regulation (EU) No 432/2012. Official Journal of the European Union L 328, December 12, 2015, 46–49. Authorizes the claim “Chicory inulin contributes to normal bowel function by increasing stool frequency,” on the condition of 12 g of native chicory inulin a day. Cited in chapter 32
  6. Del Cueto, Jorge, Irina A. Ionescu, Martina Pičmanová et al. “Cyanogenic Glucosides and Derivatives in Almond and Sweet Cherry Flower Buds from Dormancy to Flowering.” Frontiers in Plant Science 8 (2017): 800. DOI 10.3389/fpls.2017.00800. Sets out the pathway in Prunus: amygdalin to prunasin, prunasin to mandelonitrile, and mandelonitrile split by mandelonitrile lyase into benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide — the almond smell and the poison from one reaction. Cited in chapter 18
  7. EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM). “Evaluation of the Health Risks Related to the Presence of Cyanogenic Glycosides in Foods Other than Raw Apricot Kernels.” EFSA Journal 17, no. 4 (2019): 5662. DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5662. Establishes an acute reference dose of 20 μg of cyanide per kg of body weight, applicable whatever the dietary source, and describes the separation of glycoside from enzyme in intact tissue. Cited in chapter 18
  8. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). “Scientific Opinion on the Substantiation of a Health Claim Related to ‘Native Chicory Inulin’ and Maintenance of Normal Defecation by Increasing Stool Frequency pursuant to Article 13.5 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.” EFSA Journal 13, no. 1 (2015): 3951. DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2015.3951. The scientific basis of the regulation above. Cited in chapter 32
  9. Egyptian Drug Authority. Egyptian Herbal Monograph, Volume 1: Traditional Wild Medicinal Plants. Cairo: Egyptian Drug Authority, 2023. The entry for Hibiscus sabdariffa L., last revised November 26, 2023, gives one indication — “As adjuvant therapy for managing the hypertension” — and states that it rests “exclusively upon long-standing use.” There is no European monograph for this plant; this is the national monograph that exists. Cited in chapter 22
  10. Ellis, Lucy R., Sadia Zulfiqar, Mel Holmes, Lisa Marshall, Louise Dye and Christine Boesch. “A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Hibiscus sabdariffa on Blood Pressure and Cardiometabolic Markers.” Nutrition Reviews 80, no. 6 (2022): 1723–1737. DOI 10.1093/nutrit/nuab104. Seventeen chronic trials. Systolic pressure fell by 7.10 mmHg (95% CI −13.00 to −1.20); the diastolic result favored hibiscus but did not reach significance. Cited in chapter 22, chapter 25
  11. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Arctium lappa L., radix. EMA/HMPC/246763/2009. Adopted September 16, 2010. Cited in chapter 36
  12. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Calendula officinalis L., flos, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/437450/2017 Rev. 1. Adopted March 27, 2018. Both indications are external — skin, and the mouth and throat. The monograph records no internal use. Cited in chapter 22
  13. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Cichorium intybus L., radix. EMA/HMPC/121816/2010. Adopted January 15, 2013. Cited in chapter 32, chapter 38
  14. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Crataegus spp., folium cum flore. EMA/HMPC/159075/2014. Adopted April 5, 2016. The subject is the leaf with the flower. As a tea it is recognized for nervous cardiac complaints only. Cited in chapter 27
  15. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Ginkgo biloba L., folium. EMA/HMPC/321097/2012. Adopted January 28, 2015. The well-established-use indication applies to a preparation meeting the European Pharmacopoeia monograph for the refined and quantified dry extract, not to the leaf as such. The traditional use applies to the powdered leaf. Cited in chapter 19
  16. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Glycyrrhiza glabra L.; Glycyrrhiza inflata Bat.; Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch., radix, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/108399/2024 Rev. 1. Adopted March 4, 2026. Cited in chapter 37
  17. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Glycyrrhiza glabra L.; Glycyrrhiza inflata Bat.; Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch., radix, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/108395/2024 Rev. 1. Final, March 4, 2026. Citing a survey of herbal teas on the Dutch market, it estimates a 250 ml cup of licorice tea at about 31.5 mg of glycyrrhizin on average; licorice root under the European Pharmacopoeia contains not less than 4.0% of 18β-glycyrrhizic acid. Cited in chapter 37
  18. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Lavandula angustifolia P. Mill., flos. EMA/HMPC/734125/2010. Adopted March 27, 2012. Cited in chapter 20
  19. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Matricaria recutita L., flos. EMA/HMPC/55843/2011. Adopted July 7, 2015. The infusion is dosed from the age of six months. Cited in chapter 20, chapter 23, chapter 24
  20. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Melissa officinalis L., folium. EMA/HMPC/196745/2012. Adopted May 14, 2013. Cited in chapter 15, chapter 19
  21. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Mentha x piperita L., folium, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/572705/2014 Rev. 1. Adopted January 15, 2020. Cited in chapter 15, chapter 25, chapter 42
  22. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Panax ginseng C.A.Mey., radix, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/27744/2023 Rev. 1. Adopted May 29, 2024. One indication, traditional: symptoms of asthenia such as fatigue and weakness. Cited in chapter 34, chapter 38
  23. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Plantago lanceolata L., folium, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/887979/2022 Rev. 1. Adopted July 9, 2025. Cited in chapter 37
  24. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Quercus robur L., Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl., Quercus pubescens Willd., cortex. EMA/HMPC/3203/2009. Adopted November 25, 2010. Internal use is limited to three days, external use to one week. Cited in chapter 39
  25. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Rhamnus frangula L., cortex, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/726261/2016 Rev. 1. Adopted September 25, 2019. Well-established use, and the only indication in the recipe section of this book that rests on clinical evidence without a traditional indication beside it. Cited in chapter 40
  26. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Rhamnus frangula L. cortex. EMA/HMPC/483550/2018. Final, September 25, 2019. The source of the one-year rule, in its own words: the anthrone O-glycosides of the fresh bark “are supposedly responsible for serious side effects seen in the stomach after oral administration. Therefore, the bark should not be used before at least 1 year, so that oxidation of the anthrones can take place.” Cited in chapter 40
  27. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Ribes nigrum L., folium. EMA/HMPC/745353/2016. Adopted September 19, 2017. Cited in chapter 16, chapter 17
  28. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Rubus idaeus L., folium. EMA/HMPC/44211/2012. Adopted January 28, 2014. Three traditional indications, none of them concerning pregnancy or childbirth. Cited in chapter 17
  29. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Salix [various species including S. purpurea L., S. daphnoides Vill., S. fragilis L.], cortex. EMA/HMPC/80630/2016. Adopted January 31, 2017. Well-established use for low back pain; the joint pain, fever and headache indications are traditional. Contraindicated in children and adolescents under eighteen years of age, in the monograph’s own words, “due to the risk of Reye’s syndrome.” Cited in chapter 41, chapter 42
  30. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Salvia officinalis L., folium, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/277152/2015 Rev. 1. Adopted September 20, 2016. Daily exposure to thujone is to stay below 6.0 mg, and use under eighteen is not established for want of data. Cited in chapter 16
  31. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Taraxacum officinale F.H. Wigg., radix. EMA/HMPC/475726/2020. Adopted November 24, 2021. The root. Taraxaci folium and Taraxaci radix cum herba are separate monographs on different material. Cited in chapter 35
  32. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Thymus vulgaris L. and Thymus zygis L., herba. EMA/HMPC/342332/2013. Adopted November 12, 2013. One indication: productive cough associated with cold. Cited in chapter 16
  33. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Tilia cordata Miller, Tilia platyphyllos Scop., Tilia x vulgaris Heyne or their mixtures, flos. EMA/HMPC/337066/2011. Adopted May 22, 2012. Cited in chapter 21, chapter 23, chapter 24
  34. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Zingiber officinale Roscoe, rhizoma, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/885789/2022 Rev. 1. Adopted May 7, 2025. The well-established use is the prevention of nausea and vomiting in motion sickness, not nausea in general. Every indication applies to the powdered root or to tinctures; the monograph describes no tea. Cited in chapter 33, chapter 38, chapter 42
  35. European Pharmacopoeia. Ginkgo Dry Extract, Refined and Quantified, 04/2008:1827, and Ginkgo Leaf, 01/2011:1828. Strasbourg: European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare. Both numbers are cited in the EMA monograph above; the first defines the preparation the clinical evidence was gathered on. Cited in chapter 19
  36. Gutzeit, D., G. Baleanu, P. Winterhalter and G. Jerz. “Vitamin C Content in Sea Buckthorn Berries (Hippophaë rhamnoides L. ssp. rhamnoides) and Related Products: A Kinetic Study on Storage Stability and the Determination of Processing Effects.” Journal of Food Science 73, no. 9 (2008): C615–C620. DOI 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2008.00957.x. Puts the fresh berry at about 400 mg of vitamin C per 100 g, and measures what processing takes out of it: 5 to 11 percent of the total ascorbic acid lost in industrial juice production. Cited in chapter 28
  37. İlyasoğlu, Huri and Tuba Eda Arpa. “Effect of Brewing Conditions on Antioxidant Properties of Rosehip Tea Beverage: Study by Response Surface Methodology.” Journal of Food Science and Technology 54, no. 11 (2017): 3737–3743. DOI 10.1007/s13197-017-2794-2. The best result came from 6–8 minutes at 84–86 °C, and the beverage then held 3.15 mg of ascorbic acid per 100 ml. Cited in chapter 26
  38. In re VNGR Beverage, LLC Litigation. No. 4:24-cv-03229-HSG. United States District Court, Northern District of California. Consolidated consumer class action over the “gut healthy” labeling of Poppi soda, first filed in 2024 and settled for 8.9 million US dollars without admission of wrongdoing. Cited in chapter 32
  39. Kennedy, Aideen, Audrey Brennan, Celine Mannion and Maresa Sheehan. “Suspected Cyanide Toxicity in Cattle Associated with Ingestion of Laurel — a Case Report.” Irish Veterinary Journal 74 (2021): 6. DOI 10.1186/s13620-021-00188-0. Thirty-six weanlings died over twelve days after gaining access to a cherry laurel hedge. The reason the distinction between cherry leaf and cherry laurel is worth making in a recipe. Cited in chapter 18
  40. Mazur, Monika, Jakub Szperlik, Anna Marietta Salejda, Grażyna Krasnowska, Joanna Kolniak-Ostek and Przemysław Bąbelewski. “Description of the Guelder Rose Fruit in Terms of Chemical Composition, Antioxidant Capacity and Phenolic Compounds.” Applied Sciences 11, no. 19 (2021): 9221. DOI 10.3390/app11199221. States the practice this recipe rests on: “The fruits need to be frozen before they can be eaten since freezing makes the fruits’ bitter taste less intense.” The paper ascribes that bitterness, and a slight toxicity, to saponin glycosides and to “viburnine” — a name with no characterized compound behind it, which is why this book does not use it. Cited in chapter 29
  41. Norouzzadeh, Mostafa, Minoo Hasan Rashedi, Mohammad Hesam Azizi et al. “Efficacy and Safety of Hibiscus sabdariffa in Cardiometabolic Health: An Overview of Reviews and Updated Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.” Complementary Therapies in Medicine 89 (2025): 103135. DOI 10.1016/j.ctim.2025.103135. Twenty-six randomized trials, 1,797 participants; a dose-dependent fall in both systolic and diastolic pressure against placebo and against other teas. Cited in chapter 22, chapter 25
  42. Penninkilampi, R., E. M. Eslick and G. D. Eslick. “The Association between Consistent Licorice Ingestion, Hypertension and Hypokalaemia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Human Hypertension 31, no. 11 (2017): 699–707. DOI 10.1038/jhh.2017.45. Eighteen studies, 337 participants, every one of them at 100 mg of glycyrrhizic acid a day or more: systolic pressure up 5.45 mmHg (95% CI 3.51 to 7.39), diastolic up 3.19 (95% CI 0.10 to 6.29), plasma potassium down 0.33 mmol/L. Dose correlated with blood pressure but not with the fall in potassium. Cited in chapter 37
  43. PepsiCo. “PepsiCo to Acquire poppi.” Press release, March 17, 2025. pepsico.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025/pepsico-to-acquire-poppi. Accessed October 1, 2026. The price of 1.95 billion US dollars includes 300 million in anticipated cash tax benefits. Cited in chapter 32
  44. Robilliard, Gabrielle. “Faking It? A Little History of Coffee Substitutes.” Intoxicating Spaces: The Impact of New Intoxicants on Urban Spaces in Europe, 1600–1850, November 18, 2019. intoxicatingspaces.org/2019/11/18/faking-it-a-little-history-of-coffee-substitutes. Accessed October 1, 2026. A historian’s summary written for a research project of four European universities; behind it stands H. Teuteberg, “Zur Kulturgeschichte der Kaffee-Surrogate,” in Kaffee im Spiegel europäischer Trinksitten, edited by D. U. Ball, 169–199 (Zürich, 1991), which this book has not consulted directly. Cited in chapter 32
  45. Scientific Committee on Food. Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on Glycyrrhizinic Acid and Its Ammonium Salt. SCF/CS/ADD/EDUL/225 Final. Opinion adopted April 4, 2003; issued April 10, 2003. ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scf/out186_en.pdf. Accessed September 21, 2026. The figure of 100 mg a day is an upper limit for regular ingestion from all sources combined, and expressly not an acceptable daily intake: the committee states that an ADI cannot be derived. Cited in chapter 37
  46. Serban, Corina, Amirhossein Sahebkar, Sorin Ursoniu, Florina Andrica and Maciej Banach. “Effect of Sour Tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) on Arterial Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.” Journal of Hypertension 33, no. 6 (2015): 1119–1127. DOI 10.1097/HJH.0000000000000585. Five trials, 390 participants; systolic pressure down 7.58 mmHg (95% CI −9.69 to −5.46) and diastolic down 3.53 mmHg (95% CI −5.16 to −1.89), the effect larger the higher the starting pressure. Cited in chapter 22, chapter 25
  47. Teleszko, Mirosława, Aneta Wojdyło, Magdalena Rudzińska, Jan Oszmiański and Tomasz Golis. “Analysis of Lipophilic and Hydrophilic Bioactive Compounds Content in Sea Buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides L.) Berries.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 63, no. 16 (2015): 4120–4129. DOI 10.1021/acs.jafc.5b00564. Measures both fractions in the same berries: the carotenoids behind the color and the oil, and the water-soluble compounds beside them. Cited in chapter 28
  48. Tu, Jiang-Hua, Yi-Jing He, Yao Chen et al. “Effect of Glycyrrhizin on the Activity of CYP3A Enzyme in Humans.” European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 66, no. 8 (2010): 805–810. DOI 10.1007/s00228-010-0814-5. Glycyrrhizin 150 mg twice a day for fourteen days — 300 mg a day — lowered the exposure to midazolam by about a fifth, which is a modest induction of CYP3A4. Cited in chapter 37
  49. Tu, Jiang-Hua, Dong-Li Hu, Lu-Lu Dai et al. “Effect of Glycyrrhizin on CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 Activity in Healthy Volunteers with Different CYP2C19 Genotypes.” Xenobiotica 40, no. 6 (2010): 393–399. DOI 10.3109/00498251003748095. The same dose and duration; plasma omeprazole fell and omeprazole sulfone rose, the signature of the same enzyme being induced. Cited in chapter 37