After landing at Cusco Peru’s two-mile high airport, we are greeted by colorfully-dressed Incas who hand us cups of hot tea. “¡Bienvenidos a Cusco!” A delightful welcome to the former center of the Incan Empire. but the tea also serves an important purpose—the prevention of altitude sickness.
The tea we are offered at the airport, and again in our hotel lobby, is mate de coca—brewed from leaves of the coca plant. Coca is best known to North Americans as the source of the drug cocaine, which is actually a highly processed derivative of the coca leaf. Because of its association with the drug, coca is banned in the U.S.
In the Andes, where it is legal, coca is an age-old tonic and a remedy for many ailments. It enhances mood, without dependency or toxicity; is a natural energizer, similar to coffee; is rich in vitamins and minerals; relieves dizziness, headaches and stomach problems; and aids in weight loss and child-birth.
The strange-tasting drink, yellowish in color with a bubbly froth, is served warm for just a few coins, and is quite strong. It is not usually found in restaurants (a similar drink, chicha morada, made from blue corn, is sweet and sold everywhere like a soft-drink), but is sold by individuals, usually in the lower socioeconomic bracket, who have passed down the traditional recipes since pre-Inca times.
Some say the it was the ancient Greeks, some argue that it was indigenous Americans like the Mayans of the 
