deh

The Navajo word dééh refers to tea, or Navajo (or Hopi) tea, in English.

The tea plant is abundant wherever there is a good source of water, which commonly includes the runoff areas from roads during monsoon season. The tea plant has wiry stalks and stems, and small yellow flowers at the tops. It grows about knee height and lower.

These plants are collected and bundled to a size about as thick as a broom handle, and about as tall as a soda can. Boil these bundles in water and you have Navajo tea.

Another word for tea is ch’il ahwééh, which is like saying “plant coffee.”