Photo: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Guarana
Paullinia cupana
Also known as Guarana, Guaraná, Brazilian Cocoa, Uabano, Zoom Cocoa
Key benefits
✦Traditional uses
✦Long before it appeared in modern energy drinks, guarana was the treasured plant of the Sateré-Mawé people of the Brazilian Amazon, who are credited with first domesticating it. They roasted the seeds, ground them into a paste, and shaped it into hard sticks that were grated into water and shared as a ceremonial and everyday tonic for stamina and clear-headed energy. Guarana traveled along Amazonian trade routes for generations, prized as a stimulant, a traveling companion for long journeys, and a remedy reached for during fatigue and digestive upset. Its reputation as nature's original energy booster has carried it from riverside villages into apothecary shelves around the world.
How to grow & use it
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In Sateré-Mawé legend, guarana grew from the eye of a beloved child, and the fruit's black seed peeking from its white aril was seen as an eye looking back, which is part of why the plant has long been treated as sacred rather than just useful.
Guarana seeds are very high in caffeine, so use sparingly and not late in the day. Avoid in children and pregnancy, and use caution with heart conditions or stimulant, MAOI, or blood-thinning medications.