Pope Francis Drinks Tea Made From Coca Leaves on Bolivia Visit
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Pope Francis enjoyed an in-flight tea made with from coca leaves — illegal in the United States — to prevent altitude sickness during a visit to the world's highest capital city.
Sitting at an altitude of 13,000 feet, La Paz has air 30 percent thinner than at sea level and the reduced oxygen level can cause fatigue, headaches and shortness of breath. That was a real concern for Francis, who has had part of one lung removed as a child due to an infection.
Francis — Latin America's first pope — is on a tour of the region.
Staff on the Bolivian Airlines plane from Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday offered journalists a traditional remedy of coca tea to reduce the effect of altitude sickness.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-drinks-tea-made-coca-leaves-bolivia-visit-n389121
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I didn't like the taste.... Ended up with altitude sickness and had to hole up in a hotel for 3 days. A most unpleasant experience.
Added a little sugar and lemon, drank the tea, and the altitude sickness was resolved.
At the urging of our guides, all in our group drank coca tea as a preventive against altitude sickness before we went to Cusco and Macchu Picchu. None of us had any problems with altitude sickness. Whether it was the result of drinking coca tea, I'm not sure, but people in the Andes drink it all the time for that reason. It's also offered regularly in hotels and restaurants.
In fact, processed coca leaves for tea are NOT illegal and can readily be found in grocery stores in tea bag form. The tea doesn't have the best taste, IMO, but perhaps one can be acquired.
It is the unprocessed coca leaves that are illegal. Technically it is illegal to bring even the tea bags back with one to the US without a permit. See, e.g, http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294311-i818-k4044163-Coca_tea_legal_in_the_USA-Peru.html
If you're interested in trying coca tea legally, you can apparently purchase it in the US from this site (http://nutriperu.com/) in the US. You may also find this information from Amazon interesting, especially if your job requires drug testing: http://www.amazon.com/this-cocainized-these-product-Amazon/forum/Fx2Y61AKPVM90F2/Tx360J9RM7R2TPG/1
So beware. 
