Magic Beans: Psychedelic Snuff From the Amazon (Yopo)
What if Jack's magic beans opened a doorway to the spirit world? Meet Yopo: a psychoactive snuff derived from the seeds of a towering tree in the legume family — rich in both DMT and bufotenin.
Under the canopy of trees nestled in the river valley of Colombias Orinoquia region, participants gather to prepare their minds and bodies for a journey beyond the physical world. In just a few moments, they will experience visions, revelations, and a first-hand connection with the spirit realm.
They're taking Yopo, a psychedelic snuff made from the seeds of a massive bean tree called Anadenanthera peregrina.
Participants sit in a semi-circle around a shaman, who chants rhythmically, invoking spirits to guide the ceremony. Once ready, the shaman approaches each participant with a long blowpipe, traditionally crafted from either bamboo or bone.
The tube is loaded with yopo powder (also called Epena) and forcefully blows the powder into the nasal cavity.
At first, the experience is painful — having seed powder and ash blasted up your nose is as uncomfortable as it sounds — but the discomfort quickly dissolves as the mind begins to spiral into a vortex of vivid colors, intricate patterns, and deep introspection.
The Yopo Experience
Yopo is a natural, short-acting psychedelic — producing a similar visionary experience to ayahuasca — albeit much shorter.
The effects kick in within just a few seconds and peak after about 5 minutes. The peak experience is short-lived, lasting just 20 minutes before settling to a more mellow and introspective level. This afterglow stage can last for up to 3 hours.
Yopo's heavily front-loaded experience likely comes down to its three primary ingredients. N,N-DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT are only minor components but offer the strongest psychedelic experience. These kick in straight away with full force but quickly wear off after 15 or 20 minutes. The bufotenin, which comprises the majority of yopos psychedelic fraction, is much milder but longer-lasting. It's likely responsible for the long-term lingering or afterglow effects of Yopo.
Yopo has a particularly high connection with nature — it's common for people taking Yopo to "see" the spirits of the plants and animals around them.
Yopo participants often report:
Intense visual hallucinations (e.g., geometric patterns and vibrant colors)
Profound emotional release
A heightened sense of connection to the natural world
With a high enough dose, users may experience out-of-body visions, traveling to realms completely outside their usual frame of consciousness. This level of experience, which is common to bufo vaping or ayahuasca, is typically only possible with several back-to-back insufflations of the yopo seed powder.
Yopo & Ayahuasca: A Tale of Two Rituals
Yopo and ayahuasca both emerge from the lush tropical forests of South America — but you'll rarely find these sacred plants growing side-by-side. The ayahuasca vine thrives in the shaded understory of the dense, humid Amazonian jungle, while the yopo tree prefers open savannahs and river valleys of northern South America. It's common around Venezuela and Colombia, where it's hot all year and has plenty of rainfall.
Most of the ethnic groups living in the Orinoquia region of Venezuela and Colombia, where yopo trees thrive, are known to use it. The name of the herb will vary from one group to the next (Yopo, Jpop, Epena, or Cohoba), but the mode of administration remains consistent among all groups…
How Yopo is Made
The large seed pods of the yopo tree are collected, and the inner seeds are separated from the husk — just as you would for its many cousins in the bean and pea family.
The seeds are then mashed into a fine paste and mixed with either ash from other sacred trees or ground powder from other local medicinal herbs. This mix creates a dough-like consistency, which is then dried to produce a fine powder.
The powder is then stored until it's ready to be loaded into the long, thin bamboo applicators to be blown directly up the user's nostrils.
A Ritual of Intent
Unlike other traditional snuffs, such as rapé (hapé), which can be administered individually, Yopo is almost always administered by someone else — typically a shaman.
Having someone else blow the contents up one's nose is thought to transmit the administrator's intent — meaning that the shaman not only blows the psychedelic seed powder into your nose but also transfers some of his own spiritual energy to help guide and protect you through the experience.
Similar practices are present throughout shamanism. For example, in traditional ayahuasca ceremonies, the shaman often sings icaros (sacred songs) to connect participants with protective spirits and guide their journey. In peyote ceremonies, the shaman leads prayers and blessings to invoke the spirit of the peyote and ensure the group’s safety and focus.
With Yopo, the physical blowing of the snuff provides the shaman with ample opportunity to imbue the medicine with his own intention and protective energy.
To the skeptic, this mystical explanation is pretty far-fetched. I don't claim to understand it, but I have had first-hand experience with this sort of thing in ayahuasca circles and understand the importance of the shaman's role in keeping his participants safe on a spiritual level.
The very first time I took ayahuasca, early into the experience, I remember seeing a massive anaconda wrapping himself around the outside of the maloka. When I asked the shaman about this the following day, he told me this was more than just a vision — he told me that he routinely calls upon the spirit of the anaconda to create a protective barrier between the energetic chaos of the raw jungle and his participants inside the maloka.
A few nights later, we had a session under a moonless sky. Within about two hours of taking the ayahuasca, the entire maloka descended into chaos. The shaman lost control, and many participants (including myself) had an extremely challenging experience. One participant even wandered out into the jungle alone (he claims to have been lured). My own experience was so overwhelming I could barely bring myself out of bed the following morning. After speaking about it in the group session the following day, the shaman admitted that he was unable to call upon the spirit of the anaconda that night due to the absence of the moon.
What's Inside Yopo?
Yopo seeds contain several psychedelic compounds, including N,N,DMT (the same active ingredient in ayahuasca), 5-MeO-DMT (the active ingredient in the Bufo alvarius toad), and bufotenin (a relatively unknown but powerful psychedelic).
The bulk of Yopo's chemical composition comes from bufotenin (roughly 7.4%), followed by N,N-DMT (1.6%), and 5-MeO-DMT (0.4%).
The initial rush of effects come from N,N,DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. These compounds are exceptionally strong but short-lived. Within about 20–30 minutes, all the effects of these compounds will be gone.
However, the yopo experience generally lasts much longer (up to 3 hours total) — so experts believe that while most of the initial onslaught of psychedelic effects comes from DMT, the long-term effects rely on bufotenin.
Bufotenin (5-HO-DMT) is not nearly as well studied as the other main ingredients, 5-MeO-DMT and N,N,DMT — but here's what we know so far:
Bufotenin is found in a variety of psychedelic mushrooms (namely the Panaeolus genus) and is believed to play an important synergistic role with psilocybin, DMT, and other psychedelic tryptamines.
Bufotenin can be found in a wide variety of plants, including Virola theiodora, Mimosa tenuiflora (a common ingredient in ayahuasca), and Desmodium gangeticum (an important ayurvedic healing herb).
The Bufo alvarius toad secretes small concentrations of bufotenin in its psychedelically-charged venom. This compound is believed to serve as a precursor for the production of the even stronger 5-MeO-DMT, which has been found in concentrations up to 30% in the bufo toad venom.
How is Yopo Used?
Yopo powder is primarily used as a snuff — meaning it's blown up the nose using a long, thin piece of bamboo.
There are also reports of some groups mixing Yopo with the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) to further intensify the effects. The problem is that the beta-carbolines that allow ayahuasca to work are also potent emetics (makes you vomit) — so Yopo combined with ayahuasca has a higher likelihood of causing side effects.
Some Western users report successfully smoking Yopo in combination with ayahuasca vine or another MAO inhibitor (such as Syrian rue). This preparation is usually referred to as changa and is in no way a traditional method of preparation for this plant.
Are There Any Side Effects of Taking Yopo?
There aren't any known cases of overdosing on Yopo, but many users experience some unpleasant side effects.
The most common complaint among Yopo users is the burning sensation they get after taking it through their nose (no surprise here).
Other less common side effects include nausea, vomiting, and anxiety. However, the purging associated with ayahuasca is far less common when using Yopo. This is because the primary purgative in ayahuasca is the MAO inhibitor (the ayahuasca vine itself). Yopo doesn't (usually) contain any of this vine.
How Does Yopo Compare to Other Psychedelics?
Yopo is essentially bufotenin and DMT snuff, so the active ingredient is the same as other prominent psychedelics that contain DMT or related compounds.
Bufotenin and DMT are both members of the larger tryptamine psychedelics class, which is home to such compounds as mescaline, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD (and other lysergamides), and the 2C-X family of psychedelics.
All of these substances work by interacting with the 5HT2A receptors as well as a blend of other serotonergic, dopaminergic, and GABAergic mechanisms in different ways.
The Yopo experience fluctuates quite a bit. The early effects are comparable to 5-MeO-DMT, producing a very powerful and forceful experience that quickly tapers off to a more relaxing and geometric high comparable to ayahuasca.
During the later stages (around the 30-minute mark), users often report feeling as though they're floating or flying rather than being "pushed" or "pulled" throughout the experience. This feels more similar to high-dose mescaline.
It's very common for users to feel like they can "see" the spirits of various plants, animals, and insects in the forest around them. Yopo has a particularly high association with this idea of animism and is popular among herbal medicine enthusiasts for this reason.
Other Psychedelic Legumes
Yopo is a member of the legume family (Fabaceae). This means it's botanically related to peas, beans, and lentils. This vast family contains an estimated 19,000 species, making it one of the largest plant families on Earth.
Many legumes are staples of human diets, such as lentils, chickpeas, and soybeans, while others serve industrial purposes, like indigo for dye production. Only a small subset — around 20–30 species — are known to contain psychoactive compounds like DMT, bufotenin, or related tryptamines.
Here are some of the most notable examples:
1. Acacia Trees
One of the most notable DMT-containing relatives of Yopo is the acacia tree, whose flowers and seedpods closely resemble those of the Yopo tree. Acacias thrive in subtropical regions worldwide, with the highest concentration in Australia, where over 950 species are found.
Acacias manufacture an impressive range of pharmaceuticals, including psychedelic tryptamines, histamines, β-carbolines, and phenethylamines (including mescaline and various amphetamines).
Several Australian acacias and a handful of African and Southeast Asian species produce enough DMT and other psychedelic tryptamines to (theoretically) serve as a psychedelic snuff just like Yopo.
With that said, I have not found a single example of an indigenous culture using the acacia tree as a snuff. This is probably for the best since some species produce toxic compounds like nicotine, fluoroacetate, oxalates, hydrogen cyanide, and mimosin.
Most people who are keen on tapping into the psychedelic capacity of acacias do it by extracting the DMT from its rootbark or leaves. While not quite as abundant as the seedpods, the bark and leaves often lack the unwanted toxic elements and still offer a respectable yield of DMT using simple, low-cost lab equipment.
Some of the most notable psychoactive species of acacia include:
The Southeast Asian Acacia confusa — contains around 1.14% DMT, 1.15% NMT in the rootbark.
The Australian Acacia acuminata — contains around 1.5% alkaloids, mainly consisting of DMT.
The North American Acacia berlandieri — contains mescaline, amphetamines, and nicotine.
The Australian catechu tree (Acacia catechu) — used as one of the primary ingredients for making the natural stimulant, betel quid.
2. Anadenanthera colubrina (Cebil or Vilca)
Cebil (also known as Vilca) is closely related to the yopo tree and contains the psychoactive compounds DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and bufotenin.
These alkaloids are found in high concentrations within the seeds, which are often toasted, ground into a powder, and mixed with alkaline ash to create a snuff very similar to Yopo.
Cebil is primarily by indigenous groups in South America living in Southern Peru, Bolivia, and Northern Chile.
The effects are similar to Yopo, albeit shorter and with a milder peak. Cebil produces similar visual hallucinations, emotional introspection, and (sometimes) out-of-body experiences.
3. Mimosa tenuiflora (Jurema or Tepezcohuite)
Mimosa tenuiflora is best known for its high concentrations of N,N,DMT. The rootbark contains up to 1% DMT by weight — one of the highest natural sources in the natural world.
Jurema is a common ingredient in ayahuasca — where the DMT is extracted through long hours of decocting the roots in water and mixed with the MAO inhibitors from the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriosis caapi).
Outside of ayahuasca ceremonies, the powdered root bark is sometimes used in extractions to isolate DMT for vaporization or oral preparations with other MAO inhibitors like Syrian rue (Harmala pegalum).
4. Desmodium gangeticum (Shalparni)
A lesser-known member of the legume family, Desmodium gangeticum contains notable concentrations of bufotenin.
Despite its psychedelic tryptamine content, D. gangeticum is not often used for its psychedelic effects — but instead serves as a popular Ayurvedic healing herb for its anti-inflammatory and restorative properties.
Some speculation exists about its potential for mild psychoactivity in specific preparations, but it is rarely used for this purpose.
Related: The Botanical World is Full of DMT
Further Reading
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