Avocado seed tea is made by boiling the large pit from inside an avocado in water for 10 to 15 minutes, then straining and drinking the liquid. The process is simple, but the seed requires some prep work before it hits the pot. Here’s how to do it, what’s actually in the tea, and what to know about safety before you try it.
Preparing the Seed
Start by cutting your avocado in half and removing the pit. Rinse it under warm water to get rid of any clinging fruit. The seed has a thin, papery brown skin that peels off more easily after a brief boil.
Drop the whole seed into a small pot of boiling water for about five minutes. This softens it enough to remove the outer shell and makes it much easier to cut. Pull it out with a slotted spoon, let it cool for a minute, then peel away the skin. At this point the seed should feel noticeably softer than when it was raw.
Now chop or slice the seed into smaller pieces. Some people grate it on a box grater instead, which increases surface area and pulls more flavor and compounds into the water. Smaller pieces mean a stronger tea.
Brewing the Tea
Return your chopped or grated seed to the pot with about two to three cups of fresh water. Bring it to a boil, then let it simmer for another five to ten minutes. The water will gradually turn a reddish-pink or brownish color as the compounds leach out.
Adding a cinnamon stick during the simmer is a popular choice for flavor, since the tea on its own tastes mildly bitter and earthy. Some people also stir in honey, a squeeze of lemon, or a few slices of fresh ginger. Strain everything through a fine mesh strainer into your cup. One seed typically makes one to two servings.
You can also dry and powder the seed ahead of time for a quicker version. Slice the raw seed thinly, let it air-dry for a few days (or use a dehydrator), then blend the dried pieces into a fine powder. A teaspoon of this powder steeped in hot water for five minutes produces a lighter but similar tea.
What’s in an Avocado Seed
The seed contains four main classes of plant compounds: flavanol monomers, proanthocyanidins, hydroxycinnamic acids, and flavonol glycosides. In practical terms, these are the same families of antioxidants found in green tea, dark chocolate, and berries. Researchers at the University of Queensland identified specific compounds including procyanidin A trimers and two types of chlorogenic acid in Hass and Shepard avocado seeds.
That said, the avocado peel actually has higher antioxidant activity than the seed. And boiling the seed in water extracts only a fraction of these compounds compared to the concentrated ethanol extracts used in lab studies. So while the seed does contain real bioactive molecules, a cup of the tea delivers far less than what researchers typically test.
Safety Considerations
The California Avocado Commission does not recommend eating the seed. Their position, issued in 2016, is straightforward: the purported health benefits and risks of avocado seed intake are poorly characterized, and further studies are needed before it can be considered safe for regular consumption.
The limited research that does exist paints a mixed picture depending on how the seed is processed. A study published in The Scientific World Journal tested an ethanol-based seed extract in rodents and found significant toxicity at higher doses, with 60% mortality at 1,000 mg/kg and 80% at 2,000 mg/kg. The calculated lethal dose was about 1,200 mg/kg. However, a separate study using an aqueous extract (water-based, closer to what you’d get from tea) found no toxic effects at doses up to 10 g/kg and no changes in blood chemistry after 28 days of repeated dosing. The extraction method appears to matter: alcohol pulls out different compounds than water does, and those compounds may carry different risks.
On the positive side, the seed extract showed no genotoxic activity, meaning it didn’t cause DNA damage in the tests that were run. But “no DNA damage in a rodent study” is a low bar, and no human clinical trials have evaluated avocado seed tea specifically.
Potential Side Effects
People who try avocado seed tea most commonly report a bitter taste and occasional stomach upset, particularly if the tea is brewed strong or consumed on an empty stomach. Starting with a weak brew (less seed, more water, shorter simmer time) can help you gauge your tolerance.
If you have a latex allergy, be cautious. Avocado proteins can cross-react with latex, and this sensitivity could extend to compounds in the seed. People taking warfarin or other blood-thinning medications should also be aware that avocado has been reported to reduce the effectiveness of warfarin, potentially increasing clotting risk.
Because there’s no established safe dosage for humans, most people who drink avocado seed tea treat it as an occasional thing rather than a daily habit. One cup made from a single seed, a few times a week at most, is the general approach taken by those who choose to try it.