The coca plant is a tropical shrub native to western South America, best known as the natural source of cocaine. It belongs to the species Erythroxylum coca and has been cultivated in the Andes for thousands of years, long before its most famous alkaloid was ever isolated in a lab. In its native context, the leaf is chewed or brewed into tea as a mild stimulant, much like coffee or tea elsewhere in the world.
What the Plant Looks Like
Coca is a woody shrub that grows 2 to 3 meters tall when cultivated and can reach up to 6 meters in the wild. Its leaves are light green, oval to elliptical, and relatively small at 2 to 7 centimeters long. A distinctive feature: the underside of each leaf has two curved veins on either side of the central rib, marking out a lighter strip down the middle. This detail is one of the easiest ways to identify the plant.
The flowers are small, white, and star-shaped with five petals, growing in clusters where the leaves meet the stem. After flowering, the plant produces oblong red berries.
Where Coca Grows
Coca is native to Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Brazil. It thrives in a fairly specific band of conditions: altitudes between 500 and 2,500 meters, humid environments with 80 to 90 percent relative humidity, no frost, and a mean annual temperature between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius. The soil needs to be porous and rich in humus, iron, and magnesium.
There are two main cultivated species. Erythroxylum coca grows in southern Peru, Bolivia, and the Amazon basin. Erythroxylum novogranatense comes from Colombia and the dry coastal deserts of northern Peru. Within those species, there are further varieties. E. coca var. coca, sometimes called Bolivian or Huánuco coca, is the most widely cultivated. E. coca var. ipadu, known as Amazonian coca, is adapted to lowland rainforest conditions and contains less cocaine than its highland relative.
What’s Inside the Leaf
Coca leaves contain a complex mix of alkaloids, flavonoids, and other plant compounds. The total alkaloid content ranges between 0.7 and 1.5 percent of the leaf’s dry weight. Cocaine is the dominant alkaloid, but it’s a small fraction of the leaf itself. Depending on the variety and growing region, cocaine content ranges from about 0.11 to 1.02 percent of dry weight.
The varieties differ meaningfully. Bolivian coca averages about 0.63 percent cocaine by dry weight. Amazonian coca averages just 0.25 percent. Colombian coca and Trujillo coca (a variety from coastal Peru) tend to be slightly higher, averaging 0.72 to 0.77 percent. These are small numbers. Chewing a few leaves or brewing them into tea delivers a dose roughly comparable to a cup of strong coffee in terms of stimulant effect, nothing like the concentrated drug produced through chemical extraction.
Traditional Uses
Indigenous peoples in the Andes have chewed coca leaves for centuries to reduce fatigue, suppress hunger, and cope with the thin air at high altitudes. The leaf acts as a mild stimulant and has a slight numbing effect on the mouth. It’s also brewed into a tea called mate de coca, which is widely available in Peru, Bolivia, and parts of Colombia, and is commonly offered to tourists dealing with altitude sickness.
A 2025 review by the World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence concluded that traditional coca leaf chewing and tea consumption do not pose major public health risks. Despite that finding, the committee recommended maintaining the leaf’s current international controls.
Modern Medical and Industrial Uses
Cocaine in its purified pharmaceutical form is still used in medicine. It serves as a local anesthetic for nasal procedures, applied as a solution-soaked pad inside the nostril before surgery. This is the only FDA-recognized medical application, and it’s administered exclusively in clinical settings.
The coca leaf also has a surprising commercial role. A single facility in Maywood, New Jersey, operated by the Stepan Company, is the only entity in the United States authorized to import coca leaves. Approximately 100 metric tons of dried leaves arrive each year, primarily from Peru. The plant removes the cocaine from the leaves and sells the remaining extract to Coca-Cola for use as a flavoring ingredient. The extracted cocaine goes to a pharmaceutical manufacturer for medical use. So yes, Coca-Cola still contains a coca leaf extract, just one with no cocaine in it.
Legal Status
The coca leaf has been listed under Schedule I of the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs for more than 75 years. That classification places it alongside opium and cannabis in terms of international control. In practice, this means growing, selling, or possessing coca leaves is restricted or outright illegal in most countries outside South America.
Bolivia and Peru are notable exceptions. Both countries have carved out legal frameworks that allow traditional coca cultivation and use. Bolivia formally objected to the 1961 Convention’s requirement that coca chewing be abolished, and in 2013, it re-acceded to the treaty with a reservation preserving the right to allow traditional coca use within its borders. Peru similarly permits coca cultivation in designated zones for traditional and industrial purposes.
The WHO’s most recent review, completed in October 2025, affirmed that the scientific basis for the leaf’s scheduling remains valid, and no change to its international legal status was recommended.