Kawakawa
A small New Zealand shrub of the pepper family whose heart-shaped leaves are infused as a tisane. It is a genuine Piper — a relative of black pepper and of kava — and the peppery note in the cup is a family resemblance rather than a coincidence of naming.
Identity
- Botanical name
- Piper excelsum
- Family
- Piperaceae
- Part used
- Leaf
- Origin
- New Zealand, including the Kermadec and Lord Howe islands — coastal and lowland forest understorey
- Drunk in
- New Zealand, Northland, Bay of Plenty
Character
Peppery and green with a resinous edge and a bitterness that builds with steeping time. Roasted leaf is rounder and slightly sweet; unroasted leaf is sharper and more obviously a pepper relative.
Notes: black pepper, green leaf, resin, hay
History
A plant of standing in te ao Māori with a long continuous history of use, and one whose commercial life as a bought tisane is very recent — New Zealand producers began selling dried kawakawa in quantity only in the last few decades. Those are two different histories and running them together would misrepresent both.
How it is drunk
Infused domestically in New Zealand and now sold commercially as a loose tisane and in blends, and used by New Zealand brewers, distillers and cooks. A well-known harvesting convention prefers leaves with insect holes in them, and it is a selection rule a picker will state without being asked.
Production
Leaves are picked, sometimes lightly wilted or roasted, and dried. Roasting darkens the cup and takes the green edge off; unroasted material is sharper and greener. Both are sold and the packets do not always distinguish them.
Preparation
Infusion
Herbal infusion (tisane)
1–2 g/100 ml · 90–95 °C · 5 min
Category-typical practice rather than a measurement for this specific botanical. Most infusions are far more tolerant of a long steep than tea is.
What gets confused
Older literature and much of the horticultural trade use Macropiper excelsum. Kava (Piper methysticum) is a different species in the same genus and is not this plant. “Pepper tree” is also used in Australia and the Americas for entirely unrelated plants including Schinus, which is neither a Piper nor from this hemisphere.
Common mistakes
- Steeping it as long as a soft herb. The bitterness arrives late and does not leave.
Evidence for this page
This page is TeaHQ synthesis throughout. No external source stands behind any statement on it, including the botanical name. 132 of the 204 botanicals have had their names and distribution checked against a taxonomic authority and this is not one of them.
Brewing parameters here are typical practice for the category rather than measurements of this plant, and each set says so.
This page makes no safety claim. It describes what Kawakawa is, where it comes from and how it is prepared — not what it does to a person. The absence of a safety note here is not a statement that the plant is safe. How TeaHQ handles this.