Tea Known for Centuries as God in Cup to Indians

Daime tea has been known for centuries to Amazon Indians, who call it caapi, yage or ayahuasca.

An account from 1858 describes how Indians in Ecuador used ayahuasca “to foresee and answer accurately in difficult cases . . . to decipher plans of the enemy . . . or, at least, to make sure of the love of their womenfolk.”

Legend says Peruvian Incas fleeing Francisco Pizarro’s conquistadores brought the secret of ayahuasca to what now is Brazil. Rubber tappers learned of it from local tribes.

Daime, a modern version of ayahuasca, appeared in 1930.

A Brazilian tapper named Raimundo Irineu Serra drank the tea and had a vision of the Virgin Mary. He founded the cult and called it daime , Portuguese for “give me,” as in “give me light.”

It is made from a jungle vine and a leaf that contain dimethyltriptamine, or DMT. It is considered a hallucinogen and is illegal in the United States. The manufacture, distribution or dispensing of DMT, or possession with intent to do so, is a felony punishable by 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million.

Nuno Pereira of the Federal University in Rio said the tea “contains an alkaloid with hallucinogenic properties. Yage is an Indian word that means ‘the plant that makes you dream.’ ”