Chuchuhuasi — the grandfather-bark of the Peruvian Amazon

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✦ Chuchuhuasi · in one breath ✦

Rooted verticality — the deep hold, over time.

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5/5

Average · 23 reviews

Breakdown

5 ★23

4 ★0

3 ★0

2 ★0

1 ★0

I feel instant effects with Chuchuasi. Really high quality.

Gilad

Daily · 25 March 2025

Thank you to the seller it is a very good herbal tea as usual the products you sell are of excellent quality I recommend it for purchase thank you consistent with the presentation photo.

Mylène

Daily · 2 July 2024

Great product! Doing 3-week shamanic diet with chuchuhuasi. Definitely strong and quiete fresh. Also fast delivery. Will order again from tge guys)

Reviewed by Inactive

Daily · 23 October 2022

Cool stuff nice smell and efficient

David Slosar

Daily · 22 February 2025

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⊹ ASK YOUR QUESTION ⊹

Ask the Forest about Chuchuhuasi

408 books digested, 97,512 indexed passages. She answers on lineages, synergies, cautions, ritual variations.

⊹ FREQUENT QUESTIONS ⊹

We answer.

What is chuchuhuasi?

Chuchuhuasi (Maytenus krukovii) is the bark of a tall tree of the Amazon basin, plant ally of the Asháninka, Shipibo-Conibo and Cocama peoples. Quechua names her "trembling back" after her use for weakened lower backs. Nicknamed "Brazilian Ginseng" by the mestizos, she is the grandfather-tree of curanderismo — the plant of holding, masculine counterpoint to Bobinsana.

What are the traditional uses of chuchuhuasi?

Amazonian tradition holds the bark as a tonic of duration — for old backs that no longer hold, and for the stamina of long walks and verticality after exhaustion. Hunters and fishermen drink a swig macerated in sugarcane rum (the "Go Juice") before effort. INFUSE transmits the use as the curanderos name it, without clinical promise.

How do I prepare a chuchuhuasi decoction?

Two ways. The practical way — 1 tablespoon of bark in 250 ml of water, simmer 15 to 20 minutes, strain, drink warm. The long Amazonian tradition way — 1 to 2 tablespoons in 1 litre of water, covered, gentle simmer 30 to 40 minutes until a deep red-brown colour. The bark reinfuses several times, extending the cooking each round.

Chuchuhuasi or Bobinsana, which one to choose?

The cardinal couple of curanderismo — Bobinsana opens the heart (the grandmother), Chuchuhuasi anchors the roots (the grandfather). Closed heart and scattering — Bobinsana first. Collapse after exhaustion, loss of verticality — Chuchuhuasi first, to rebuild holding. Many long-term dieteros meet both in succession, sometimes over several months.

How long before I feel chuchuhuasi?

Chuchuhuasi is slow — that is her teaching. Amazonian tradition speaks of her in weeks rather than hours. She is classically used in a cure of 7 to 21 days followed by a pause. She is not a drink of immediate effect — she is the grandfather-tree, not the impatient child. The work is invisible and the result tangible.

Bark or resin extract, which form to choose?

The raw bark (50g, 100g) is the traditional way of the decoction — for long cures at home and the complete gesture. The resin extract (5g, 10g) is concentrated and more practical daily — a knife tip (size of a rice grain) diluted in a warm drink. For the ceremonial dieta, the bark. For restorative daily use, the resin is enough.

Is chuchuhuasi compatible with a dieta or ayahuasca?

Yes, she is one of the classic companions of Amazonian dietas — traditionally taken before and after the work of master plants to support the body and the holding. In a formal dieta, always follow the guidance of the curandero, never self-prescription. The effect of a dieta companion is neither vision nor peak — it is stability while the vision passes.

Where does INFUSE's chuchuhuasi come from?

From Peru, in wild harvest, imported directly at the source and harvested on order to offer the freshest bark. Our supplier works with the Shipibo-Conibo communities and invests each year in replanting. Organic without European Union certification. Quality control in France. The details of the lot, cooperative and year of harvest are in process of confirmation.

⊹ Chapter · Questions ⊹

Ask, answer, share.

One question, one answer — sometimes several voices. The community answers first; INFUSE steps in when it should.

⊹ The forest says ⊹

« Every plant is a door. Chuchuhuasi opens onto a long companionship — listen to it more than you measure it. »

Essence

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⊹ CHAPTER II · ESSENCE ⊹

Grandfather Tree of Curanderismo. The Back that Holds. Rooted verticality.

In Quechua: *chuchu* (to tremble) + *huasi* (the back). The people did not name the tree by its thirty metres of height, nor by its sumptuous red-brown bark. They named it by what it accompanies: the back that trembles. A pedagogy in itself — the tree's identity is its relation of care to the human.

The chuchuhuasi (Maytenus krukovii) is the grandfather tree of curanderismo — the name the Shipibo-Conibo cosmology gives him. His temperament is masculine, earthy, vertical — not the rigidity of dead wood, but the great deeply-rooted tree that bends in the wind without breaking. Rooted verticality. Dignity without hardness.

𖥸𖥸𖥸

Where the Bobinsana is the grandmother who opens the heart (water of feeling, dissolution of armours), Chuchuhuasi is the grandfather who anchors the roots (wood of holding, verticality of the back). Together they form the cardinal couple that the Cocama and Shipibo often diet in succession over several months — opening without grounding becomes dispersion, grounding without opening becomes rigidity. Both together: aplomb.

He is a slow plant. His pedagogy is one of silence and accumulation. Long-term dieteros summarise it in a phrase that returns: "I felt nothing for weeks. Then one morning I woke and realised I had become someone who holds." Invisible work, tangible result.

𖥸𖥸𖥸

In the bars of Iquitos and Pucallpa — the Cucaracha, El Carbón, those legendary taverns of the Peruvian Amazon — the bark macerates in cane rum (aguardiente) with sugar to make the drink called *"Go Juice"*, central pillar of the Siete Raíces (seven roots). Drunk by hunters and fishermen before long jungle treks. The Amazonian tradition also lends him an aphrodisiac-tonic reputation and a support of feminine cycles passed down through generations. INFUSE transmits the use as the peoples name it, without clinical promise.

For those whose back has carried long and who must learn again how to hold without hardening.

Signature INFUSEIntensity · scored out of 10

Intensity · scored out of 10
deep holding		10/10
non-rigid sacred masculine		9/10
long cure		9/10
great age of the fibres		9/10
cardinal pair with Bobinsana		10/10

Registergrandfather-tree, the trembling back, the hunter's Go Juice, rooted verticality

Asháninka · Shipibo-Conibo · Cocama · Amazonian mestizos · Iquitos-Pucallpa

Tradition

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⊹ CHAPTER III · TRADITION ⊹

*"The back that trembles"* — Quechua names the plant by what she accompanies, not by what she is. Chuchu (to tremble) + huasi (the back, the rear). That is a pedagogy in itself: the identity of the plant is her caring relationship with the human. She does not exist in an abstract herbarium — she exists in the gesture of taking care.

Maytenus krukovii (synonyms M. macrocarpa, M. laevis) — a tall tree of the Amazon basin (up to 30 metres high), of the Celastraceae family (the same as Celastrus paniculatus, the lamp-plant of Ayurveda — a remarkable botanical kinship). Native to Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia. The red-brown bark is the part that is worked. In the markets of Iquitos, it is sold as a raw drug — bark cut into strips, ready for decoction or tincture.

Guardian peoples: the Asháninka of central Peru, the Shipibo-Conibo of the Ucayali (notably around Yarinacocha), the Cocama of the Amazon river, and the mestizos of the Amazonian towns — Iquitos, Pucallpa, Tarapoto. Continuous use for centuries.

The pairing with Bobinsana. A cardinal Cocama-Shipibo tradition: Bobinsana and Chuchuhuasi are often dieted in succession, sometimes over several months. The grandmother then the grandfather — or the other way round, depending on the need. It is one of the most taught learning sequences of Amazonian curanderismo.

Siete Raíces — the seven roots. In the bars of Iquitos and Pucallpa — the Cucaracha, El Carbón, those legendary watering holes of the Peruvian Amazon — every house has its version: seven barks and roots macerated in aguardiente (cane rum) with sugar. A swig of tonic. Chuchuhuasi is always the central pillar of it. This is the popular, non-ceremonial version of something older — the tradition of bark macerated in alcohol as an adaptive tonic, which hunters, fishermen and curanderos drink before exertion.

Shipibo-Conibo aguardiente maceration. A recipe traced in Rätsch: the bark of three trees (a handful of each) macerates for seven days in a litre of canazo, then is strained and drunk at the rate of one to two small glasses a day. The living tradition, passed from the curanderos to the mestizos and then to the practitioners of the Amazonian diaspora.

Chris Kilham and the modern spread. The American ethnobotanist Chris Kilham (Medicine Hunter) popularised Chuchuhuasi beyond the Amazon in the 2000s, through his travels, his publications and his appearances on American television. A controversial figure for some (commercialisation), but his role as a cultural bridge is real — it is partly thanks to him that the word "chuchuhuasi" circulates today outside the Amazon basin.

Preparation

⊹ CHAPTER IV · PREPARATION ⊹

Chuchuhuasi can be drunk at any moment of the day, particularly for those looking for a restorative holding rather than a peak.

Flavour: rich, robust, earthy, with a unique aromatic profile — the signature of Amazonian bark.

Forms offered by INFUSE:

Raw bark 50g / 100g — the traditional path. 1 tablespoon in 250 ml of water, simmer 15 to 20 minutes, strain, drink hot.
Resin extract 5g / 10g — concentrated and practical. A knife-tip (the size of a grain of rice) to dissolve in a hot or warm drink (~50-60°C).

The long path, Amazonian tradition (for cures at home): 1 to 2 tbsp of bark in 1 litre of water, covered, simmered gently 30 to 40 minutes until the liquid takes on a deep red-brown colour. For a creamier texture, mix with plant milk (1:1 ratio). The bark can be re-infused several times — increase the simmering time each round. When the liquid no longer darkens, compost it and start again.

Adaptogenic cure: 7 to 21 consecutive days, then a pause. It is that rhythm that gives the body the time to learn to hold again. To fit the plant easily into a routine, keep a portion of the liquid and of the bark in the pan after serving — store it in the fridge or the freezer until the next time.

Aguardiente tincture (Go Juice tradition): 1 part bark, 2 parts alcohol 30-50% (cane rum ideally), minimum 2 weeks, ideally 2 lunar cycles. A spoonful before exertion, or as a daily adaptive tonic.

Suggested ritual

The Amazonian morning cup. A long decoction (30-40 min) prepared the day before, kept in the fridge, reheated and drunk each morning for 7 to 21 consecutive days. The gesture belongs to a dieta of holding — no spectacle, no peak, just the body learning to straighten again without hardening.

For long physical crossings (training, a journey in the jungle, intense manual work): a spoonful of tincture (bark macerated 2 weeks in cane rum, Go Juice tradition) before the effort. To be approached with respect — Chuchuhuasi is not an energy drink, he is a plant grandfather.

For long convalescences (after burn-out, after a break-up, after a period of collapse): the resin as a 21-day cure, a tip in the morning in a hot infusion. A minimal gesture, a slow effect. The plant works in the background.

We answer.

What is chuchuhuasi?

What are the traditional uses of chuchuhuasi?

How do I prepare a chuchuhuasi decoction?

Chuchuhuasi or Bobinsana, which one to choose?

How long before I feel chuchuhuasi?

Bark or resin extract, which form to choose?

Is chuchuhuasi compatible with a dieta or ayahuasca?

Where does INFUSE's chuchuhuasi come from?