What Is Avocado Leaf Tea? Peru's Traditional Digestive Remedy

Peruvian kitchens waste almost nothing from an avocado. Not even the leaves.

Walk past a produce stall in a Lima market and you'll sometimes see a small bundle of dried leaves tied off to the side, sold separately from the fruit itself. Ask the vendor what they're for and you'll get a quick answer: tea, for the stomach, for cramps, for sleeping better. Hojas de aguacate, avocado leaves, have been part of Peruvian and broader Latin American home remedies for generations, even though almost nobody outside the region has heard of drinking them.

The leaves come from the same tree as the fruit everyone already knows. That's most of the appeal. No new plant to source, no unfamiliar ingredient, just a part of the avocado tree that usually ends up in the compost pile instead of the teapot.

What avocado leaf tea actually is

Avocado leaves (Persea americana) are dried and steeped much like any loose-leaf herbal tea. The flavor is earthy and a little grassy, closer to bay leaf than to anything sweet. It's naturally caffeine-free, which is part of why it shows up in evening routines rather than morning ones.

In Peru and across Central and South America, the tea has a long folk history as a digestive aid, something sipped after a heavy meal to settle the stomach. It also carries a reputation as a mild remedy for menstrual cramps and for easing into sleep. None of that is FDA-evaluated medicine. It's kitchen tradition, passed down the same way chamomile became a bedtime habit in other cultures.

Grandmothers in Andean households often dried their own leaves on a sunny windowsill after a big harvest, saving them in a jar for the months when fresh avocados were scarce. That habit is exactly why the tea survived as a household remedy instead of fading out: it cost nothing extra and used a part of the tree that would otherwise go to waste.

What the research says (and doesn't)

Here's the honest part. Most of the scientific interest in avocado leaves has focused on leaf extracts in lab and animal studies, not on the mild tea you'd actually brew at home. Some early research has looked at compounds in the leaves related to blood pressure and blood sugar regulation, and the results are interesting enough to keep researchers curious. They are not strong enough, or human enough yet, to call this a treatment for anything.

That gap between the concentrated extract researchers study and the cup of tea you drink at home matters. A tea is a much gentler dose. Treat every benefit here as traditional use, not a clinical claim, and you'll have the right expectation going in.

How to brew it

Use one to two dried leaves per cup, or a heaping teaspoon if yours are broken up. Pour water just off the boil over the leaves and let them steep for 8 to 10 minutes, longer than a typical green tea. The extra time draws out more of the earthy flavor and whatever compounds are doing the work.

• Add a slice of lemon or a spoon of honey if the plain flavor is too grassy for your taste.
• Serve it iced in the afternoon; the flavor holds up cold better than you'd expect.
• Reuse the same leaves for a lighter second cup rather than tossing them after one steep.

Our avocado leaves come whole and sun-dried, sourced the same way Peruvian households have prepared them for years, with no additives.

Where it fits in a routine

Most people reach for this tea after dinner, when the goal is settling digestion before bed rather than starting the day with energy. It pairs naturally with other after-meal herbs like muña or boldo if your stomach needs more help than one herb alone provides. Browse our Digestive Health collection for those pairings, or the wider Teas collection if you're building out a full evening tea rotation.

A few cautions

Avocado leaf tea isn't for everyone. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, skip it unless your doctor says otherwise, since the safety data for that group is thin. If you take blood pressure medication or diabetes medication, talk to your doctor before adding it regularly, since some early research suggests the leaves could interact with how your body manages both. People allergic to avocado fruit should also be cautious with the leaves. We sell this tea and we read the research behind it, and the fair summary is that tradition here runs deep, while the clinical trials are still catching up.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.