Ayahuasca Tea Recipe & Ayahuasca Brew Preparation

The Ayahuasca tea recipe is a combination of different plants. It is not just one plant, like the San Pedro recipe, which is the cactus by itself, with nothing else mixed in. Ayahuasca brew is a more complicated tea recipe, and brewing and preparation takes much time and patience.

The shamans usually need an entire day to prepare Ayahuasca tea medicine. They might need to continue into the night depending on how long they decide to brew the Ayahuasca recipe. It is brewed in a large pot over an open fire, with prayer and intention, which is another important ingredient. This is divine medicine, after all, that is meant for healing and transformation. Sometimes the ingredients are prepared separately in different pots and then mixed together later. It depends on the shaman and how he or she prefers to prepare the Ayahuasca recipe.

Ingredients of Ayahuasca Recipe:

Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi)

This is the actual vine that is the core part of the Ayahuasca tea, which is the actual medicine, while the additional ingredients which are the DMT containing parts of the brew, are considered “helpers.”  Some shamans say that the truly powerful Ayahuasca tea is made from the very old vines that grow deep in the jungle and are very hard to get to, since there are no roads where these types of vines are.

Shamans say that these old vines have the most power. The old grandfather vines are as big as 6-10 inches in diameter, but you will see most often the vines  used are about 3-5 inches wide in diameter. These too have quite potent medicine, so it is not absolutely necessary to have the old grandfather vines in order to create powerful medicine. The different types of Ayahuasca vines are yellow (heaven, “cielo”) or black (thunder, “trueno”) Ayahuasca vine, and the black is considered the most potent, but some people don’t notice the difference.

chacruna (Psychotria viridis)
These are fresh leaves, finely shredded, boiled with the Ayahuasca vine.

oco yagé (Diplopterys  cabrerana=Banisteriopsis rusbyana*)
Also known as chagropanga, huambisa, chaliponga, these too are leaves, ground into a powder. 

Ayahuasca Tea Recipe, Ayahuasca Brew Preparation

Wrap the Ayahuasca vine in a towel and break it up with a hammer into smaller pieces, or you can cut it into strips. Put the Ayahuasca vine into a pot and simmer (don’t boil) for approximately 2-3 hours. You can put the other ingredients in and cook those as well with the Ayahuasca vine, but if you want to put them in separate pots and cook them separately, that’s fine to. It is done both ways by different people.

When done, filter each ingredient that was brewed through a cloth, like a t-shirt, cheesecloth or pillow case. You can also use a colander to strain the liquid off and a spoon to push as much juice as possible out. After that, squeeze through a pillow case, t-shirt or cheese cloth with your hands to get every bit of juice you can.

Then put all the material back in the pot and reduce the water in the tea somewhat so that it becomes thicker and not as watery. Save this for later, and then repeat simmering for 2-3 hours each of the ingredients, together or separately, whichever you prefer, two more times. This is a long process!

When finished with the three separate simmers for all ingredients, and all has been strained, put the liquid in the refrigerator overnight and let it cool and settle. In the morning, when pouring everything off and filtering  through a cloth one more time, don’t disturb the sediment that has settled at the bottom. You don’t want that in the drink.

A dose should be between 1/2 to 1 cup (combined ingredients) if the Ayahuasca recipe tea is prepared  correctly.