Faced with climate change and the sustainability issues surrounding coffee and tea, it is vital to develop alternative natural sources of invigorating beverages. Yaupon holly (Ilex yaupon) is a hardy North American shrub to small tree that, unlike most other hollies, commonly thrives near the coast. Within its native range in the southeastern US, yaupon tea was an important native beverage leading into colonial times, and it was a component (without any emetic properties but a strong caffeine contribution) of the mixed concoction “Black Drink” that was widely used by Indigenous tribes for purification ceremonies. In recent decades, yaupon has seen a resurgence of interest, both in a reborn commercial beverage industry and landscaping. However, caffeine content and other agronomic properties vary within the species tremendously, and the architecture of this species’ phytochemical traits remains unknown. To lay the foundation for crop improvement and research in this underutilized beverage plant, we are sampling and propagating over 300 wild individuals from throughout the species’ native range to construct the first living diversity panel for yaupon holly. Each plant within the panel will have paired genotyping and GPS location data, and will be maintained in nurseries at two locations. We are also working with colleagues to sequence the yaupon genome. These powerful tools will allow a first detailed look at the natural genetic diversity present within yaupon holly, as well as investigation of the species’ unresolved evolutionary history. These results will be followed up by metabolic profiling and genome-wide association studies to assess the genetics of tea beverage qualities (e.g., taste, metabolites) and other agronomic traits. The preliminary studies along these lines will be presented, as will our first descriptions of the genome and genetic diversity.