Agwa de bolivia liquor coca leaf ingredients

Ingredients

For over 4000 years among the native Andean population the coca leaf has been used for ancient rituals and for everyday gift giving. Today it is drunk as a tea and chewed for hours by farmers and miners. It improves stamina, is a sacred symbol central to community life and provides essential nutrients. 100 grams of coca would more than satisfy the daily-recommended allowance of calcium, iron, phosphorous, vitamin A and riboflavin. The World Health Organisation and the UN's Inter Regional Crime and Justice research institutes cocaine project maintains that coca users show none of the classic signs of addiction. In fact coca is not a major component of cocaine as only 0.5% of the alkaloid cocaine is found in coca and 41 chemicals are needed to extract cocaine from the coca leaf.

Guarana is the extract from the seeds of the common Amazonian climber Paullina Cupana.

True Ginseng is the source of a stimulant and supposed aphrodisiac that is extracted from the roots. It is native to China although closely related species, American Ginseng, occurs in Eastern North America and is sometimes substituted for the Chinese variety. Ginseng has a sweetly aromatic flavour. The basis of Ginseng's action is believed to be due to certain chemical agents in it that increase the brains adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) activity without involving the adrenal glands. A generalised mental arousal is thereby effected.

Incas

Leading authorities for Mayan and Inca studies have challenged Agwa's claim to be the world's first "Psycho-Active" spirit drink. Neither the claims nor the effect are disputed but a leading Mayan Foundation contends that, "Herbal based beverages were at the centre of practices by Mayan elders. Among their people these elders were great men and visionaries. The visions gave direction to the tribe and were the result of taking a spirit fermented from herbs and then flavoured with honey." This may indeed be a precursor to Agwa, however, the Mayan elders didn't actually drink the spirit. They filled a funnel shaped gourd with the liquid and inserted it where the sun doesn't shine. This is not among the recommended ways to use Agwa...

History

In 1820 the first Bolivian coca leaf liqueur, was manufactured by the De Medici in Bologna, Italy and sold throughout Europe. Rudyard Kipling said the powerful elixir as being made "from the clippings and shavings of angels wings", the product was removed from the market with the banning of cocaine as rudimentary distilling did not remove cocaine.

Today bales of Bolivian Coca leaf are shipped under armed guard to Amsterdam where they are distilled and an exact maceration and herbal extraction techniques guarantee the removal of the cocaine to standards acceptable to European and US authorities. An extremely distinctive peppery herbal base is then blended with other herbs like guarana & ginseng to balance the taste and augment the effect.

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