Guayusa is a shade-grown caffeinated Amazonian holly leaf. It has a unique and clean flavour. It is high in antioxidants and vitamins and has been drunk for thousands of years by indigenous Amazonian people. A stash of Guayusa leaves was found in an ancient tomb in Bolivia that was 1500 years old. You can learn more about guayusa here.

There are many spelling variations which give a good idea of the range of ways it is pronounced. It's so interesting to see the common thread running through:

- Guayusa
- Aguayusa
- Huayusa
- Guanusa
- Wayusa
- Wais
- Why-ees
- Why-sa

The general way it's said commonly is 'G-why-u-sa' with the 'G' being almost silent, almost 'why-u-sa'.

Many believe it's a much healthier alternative to coffee. 

While it contains caffeine, it is so much more easy on the system. People report to feel the caffeine effect is much less agressive, offerine an easy and sustained focus and energy. 

It's great as an all day drink and many people are flocking to it as their day to day source of caffeine.

A good way to describe the taste of Guayusa is to think of it as a really nice, clean green tea, but without the bitterness.

But it's really a lot more complicated than that. It could be described firstly as very clean, with slightly sweet, grassy notes. But it also has an almost savoury, earthy depth with spicy, biscuity notes.

Depending on how long you brew it, and how strong you brew it, the different flavours which can be achieved are remarkable. You can pair it with almost anything - try mixing it with lemon, lime, ginger, mint, cinnamon, coconut. It carries other flavours so well - yet the unique taste of Guayusa always shines through.

We sell two kinds of Guayusa on our website - Black and Green. Green Guayusa tastes like we've described above and Black, which's leaves have been fermented for a longer period of time, tastes similar, but with bolder, fruitier notes and a noticeably darker brew.

While it obviously still contains caffeine, we have personally found that since discovering guayusa we've hardly drunk any coffee at all - and we were big, strong coffee drinkers.

Guayusa is so much easier on the system, and feels packed with goodness. You still get all the alertness you'd seek from a cup of normal coffee, but it's a much more subtle and drawn out energy.

It lasts a long time and rises and leaves the system very gently, unlike the rather fast up and down / undesirable jittery effects of normal coffee.

questions in as much detail as possible for your customers.

Our Guayusa comes from the upper region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. It is grown and harvested by small rural farming families. The Guayusa is grown among other species of plants in sustainable rainforest gardens known as Chacras.

Like any tea or coffee you are going to find the optimum volume of product and brewing time that suits you best. 

The general volume of Guayusa per cup seems to be around 2g. This is what we put into our pure Guayusa tea bags - and it make a perfect brew for us - delivering just the right taste and energy hit.

Of course, with our loose leaf Guayusa, you can choose to put less or more in. I would say at home we probably do make it a bit stronger - in the same way you might have an extra shot in a cappuccino or a double espresso, etc.

One striking difference with Guayusa is that it's pretty much impossible to over brew it - it has very low tannin content so does not have the bitterness of tea or coffee (it also won't stain your teeth or cups - cool, huh?)

A cup of tea made with 2g of Guayusa would give around 41mg of caffeine where a normal cup of coffee might be more in the region of 95mg. Of course you can make the Guayusa stronger to your taste. It releases the caffeine more slowly into the system.

This makes its energising effects less aggressive than coffee and generally feel easier on the body, while still giving a stimulative effect.

We recommend brewing the tea in freshly boiled water for at least 5 mins before drinking. You don't have to take the tea bag out either! Because Guayusa is virtually tannin free, it will never go bitter, like normal black or green teas.

The general advice on consuming caffeine would be to not consume any caffeinated products it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, so we would not advise drinking Guayusa if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, as it ultimately contains caffeine.

Yes. The way plant species are named is generally as follows: The Latin 'genus' (family) comes first, followed by the 'species'.

The holly you will be familiar with in Europe is 'Ilex aquifolium'. Guayusa is 'llex guayusa' - so they are the same family (holly (Ilex)), but simply a different species. You may have heard of 'Yerba Mate' - this is also a more well-known caffeinated holly. This can be bitter when prepared, where Guayusa is not at all bitter. Yerba Mate is 'Ilex paraguariensis'.

As a commercial product you may be surprised to learn that it's only been available for sale, mainly in the USA, for about the last ten years.

We were the first Limited Company to sell Guayusa in the UK and Europe, launching way back in June 2015.

We've always sold the highest quality, organic tea. We have a range of the best Guayusa on sale on our site right now - for the best prices in Europe for the quality and the promise of completely biodegradable packaging.

We have premium biodegradable pyramid bags in Black and Green varieties of Guayusa. Likewise we have loose leaf packs of both Black and Green. We've even got Guayusa chocolate! 

Shop the entire range here

Shipping costs are calculated at checkout depending on the region you want the order to be shipped to.

We currently ship to the UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada.

We’re doing as much as we can to be a plastic free business.

Now even the pouch inside out packs will be made from renewable wood pulp (a material called NatureFlex) and are biodegradable. 

As for the teabags themselves this is the official tech spec but the short answer is they are fully biodegradable and not a concern from a micro-plastics point of view.

The materials we use are:

- PLA Mesh Filter
- PLA Thread
- Paperboard Tags with PLA Coating

All are certified biodegradable/compostable to European Standard EN13432, as well as for Food Contact and Hot Water Extraction suitability, including the printed inks on the tags.