Avocado Tea

An article published in mid-2019 entitled, “Are Avocados the Future of Tea?” asks a provocative question whose answer depends on what the proven health benefits of the tea are. There is only a small and fragmented body of scientific reports that point to an answer.

Perhaps, though, the question should be flipped from 2019 to, say, 1419 A.D. or even 7800 B.C., and restated as, “Are Wild Avocados the Future of Medicine?” That’s how early avocado seeds can be carbon-dated in Mexican caves that were occupied by humans. There’s a lot of non-scientific but convincing evidence that avocados are packed with the same compounds as tea that have been shown to contribute to wellness.

In addition, avocado was, for millennia, core to traditional medicine in the Americas and Caribbean. The whole leaves of the plant were boiled to extract the high concentration of antioxidants, tannins, saponins, serotonin, and quercetin, all of which are associated with specific curative impacts. Saponins, for example, help pass kidney stones, and quercetin seems to reduce inflammation.

As with Ayurvedic, Native American,  and Chinese traditional medicine, traditions of Aztec and Central American cultures have been gaining both respect and attention in recent years. There are three main reasons: the focus on plants, the longevity of treatments and methods, and the naturopathic tradition of treatment.

Botanicals offer safety, quality, and efficacy. Around 25% of all prescription drugs in the US contain at least one active ingredient derived from plants. Traditional medicine generates a test lab based on long periods of history rather than experiments. The practitioners may not have known why something worked, but over centuries those treatments that were effective were passed on and, in turn, refined. Others fell into disuse, and failures meant a loss of credibility (and patients). Innovations had a context for creativity, a base on which to build, and a network of dissemination paths. Finally, the entire modern trend in medicine, food, and beverages is to seek out the natural and minimize the risks of chemical interactions and side effects.

Avocado tea fits into this historical pattern. There’s a rich literature on the varieties of fruit, their trade, and the main therapies. The research literature doesn’t have much to say about the effectiveness of the treatments but confirms the constituents of the avocado leaf that support the claim that it is the healthiest in nature.

The first widely distributed avocado teas came on the market at the end of 2019, and there are now around a dozen brands positioned to build a new market segment. Sales of avocados to eat doubled between 2000 and 2010. Prices, though, have soared, doubling in the year 2017-18. This reflects growing demand and year-round consumption, Mexico-US trade discord, and California harvest shortages.

The tea itself requires special production processes, just as do cold brew and bubble tea. Several of these have been patented. The leaf is not easy to bag; it is fibrous and larger than those of traditional teas. The favor is described as earthy, smooth, and less astringent than green tea. The limited range of teas on the market are mostly blends, with chamomile or citrus extract, for example. To boggle the mind and perhaps rock the boat of tea traditionalists, a popular version is avocado bubble tea.