Well, technically this isn’t tea since “tea” means a beverage made from Camellia sinensis leaves, but it is a hot beverage derived from the leaves of a plant so here we go!
In my search for information about coffee leaf being used for beverages, I came across a documentary on the company website that was very informative. Many workers on coffee plantations must uproot their families as the coffee bean harvest ends. It makes it difficult for children to stay in school and to have consistency in their lives and causes interruptions to the family income. By learning to use the coffee leaves, the harvest is both increased and extended and the workers and the families have greater stability and higher income. It is worth a viewing when you have the time!
Now I am not a coffee drinker AT ALL so I am pleased to say that it does NOT taste like coffee.
Steeping the leaves has produced a beverage the same color as mango, and there is a natural mango aroma coming up in the steam from the cup. It is a nice, fruity smell without artificial candy scent. Note that other coffee leaf offerings may be darker as this company does many levels of oxidation just as can be done with tea.
The base does not taste like tea to me. It is pleasant, though. There is no bitterness to it and no drying of the tongue. It has medium body, creamy, with an aftertaste of wood and almost… smoke? I think of forest and find it to be mostly low notes.
The instructions say to resteep multiple times and that you don’t have to worry about oversteeping. I did keep to the suggestion of going two to three minutes for the first and five minutes for the second. The second steep has less mango flavor but now the coffee leaf flavor stands out much more, and it is just as full-bodied if not more so. I think of how Graham Kerr used to talk about mouth-roundness of flavor, and that is what I get from this.
If you enjoy trying new things, this is worth a shot! You may find a new flavor love.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Coffee Leaf
Where to Buy: Wize Monkey
Description
It’s like a mango party in your mouth!
- Our award-winning CLTea base blended with fruity and fragrant mango flavour
- Delivers antioxidants like mangiferin and chlorogenic acids
- Put your steeping on autopilot: can’t over-steep it, add hot water as needed for more cups
- Ingredients: Coffee Leaf Tea, dried mango chunks, calendula petals, natural mango flavour
- How to steep: 2.5g per 250mL/8 fl. oz cup, use freshly boiled water, steep for minimum 4 minutes
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jasmine / Wize Monkey Coffee Leaf Tea
I’m feeling a bit under the weather and so I needed something with a little kick to pick me up and a bigger boost of flavor.
Jasmine usually is a good floral for that when your tastes buds are a bit out of whack.
Didn’t hit me until half way through the cup that this wasn’t real tea. Even my taste buds said ‘naw man this isn’t tea but we enjoy it.’
The flavor is a cross between a rooibos and a barley tea. It’s sweet with some unique nutty, closer to hazelnut, hints. The jasmine plays well with the rest of the flavors. Slightly hidden at first but when you seek it out you instantly find it.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Coffee Leaf
Where to Buy: Wize Monkey
Description
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mango Party Coffee Leaf Tea from Wize Monkey
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Coffee Leaf Tisane
Where to Buy: Wize Monkey
Tea Description:
Juicy mangoes all up in your boca!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The packaging of this one didn’t give much away – only the name (Mango Party), and the fact that it’s a test flavour. It’s a bagged tea, but in an unbleached, sizeable bag so there’s plenty of room for leaf expansion. No complaints there. I did a little digging around, and discovered that this is, in fact, a coffee leaf tea. This isn’t something I’ve ever tried before, so it piqued my interest straight off. From what I managed to find out, coffee leaf tea is pretty much exactly what you’d think – a herbal tea made from the shredded leaves of the coffee plant. It contains less caffeine than either tea or coffee, and is described as being similar in flavour to green tea. I added the bag to a cup of boiling water, and gave it 3 minutes. The resulting liquor is a medium golden-brown, and the scent immediately put me in mind of guayusa.
To taste, guayusa is again probably the best comparison I can come up with. It’s quite prominently earthy in the initial sip, but in a good way – anyone that enjoys guayusa would be quite at home here. The flavouring emerges in the mid sip, and adds a creamy, mildly peppery, mango flavour. It’s juicy and fruity, but it’s a little milder and more fleeting than I really would have liked. There’s maybe a second or two in the mid sip where I can really taste it, and then it’s gone and the earthiness returns. For those who were wondering – this doesn’t taste of coffee at all.
This was a new experience for me, and I’m going to say that I liked it. I’d seek out more coffee leaf teas on the strength of this one, that’s for sure. When a tea is flavoured, I like the flavour to be strong and prominent, so this one lost a couple of points for me there. The flavouring is nice, but it’s a little milder and more fleeting than I’d hoped – more of a mango flash than a mango party. Either way, it’s a pleasing, fruity cup with a lovely, smooth creaminess. Definitely worth a try if you’re a mango fan, or if you’ve not tried coffee leaf tea before and are looking for a new tea experience.
Mango Party Coffee Leaf Tea from Wize Monkey
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Coffee Leaf Tea
Where to Buy: Wize Monkey
Tea Description:
Juicy mangoes all up in your boca.
Stay tuned for the official release of our mango flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
You might remember back in November when I reviewed the Armando’s Original Blend Coffee Leaf Tea from Wize Monkey. I enjoyed that ‘tea’ – it was different from anything else that I had tried but similar in taste to Guayusa.
Well, the guys at Wize Monkey sent me some more samples to try, and this is the first one I’m trying: Mango Party Coffee Leaf Tea. The website says that this flavor is “coming soon” and I’m not sure exactly what that means, but if the idea of mango flavored coffee leaf tea intrigues you, keep your eye on the website for when it becomes available.
This is a bagged ‘tea’ but I appreciated that the bag is an unbleached bag and there’s plenty of room for leaf expansion. I put a bag in my teacup and added 8 ounces of water heated to 195°F. Then I let it steep for 4 minutes.
Wow! Mango!
The mango flavor is very prominent and I really like the way it marries with the flavor of the coffee leaf. It has a deliciously juicy, fruity flavor and the coffee leaf has a buttery flavor that I didn’t really pick up on when I tried the original coffee leaf tea in November. I think that the mango brings out the very best in the coffee leaf!
The overall flavor is smooth, buttery and MANGO! Really nice! This is something I’d be happy to drink again and again! Two thumbs up!
Armando’s Original Blend Coffee Leaf Tea from Wize Monkey
Tea Description:
Leaf Type: Coffee Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
Coffee leaf tea has more antioxidants than green tea and has very little caffeine. It has a smooth flavour without bitterness or dry aftertaste like regular teas.
Learn more about Wize Monkey here.
Support Wize Monkey’s Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign here.
Taster’s Review:
I was both intrigued and nervous about this product. I have mentioned more than once the issues that I’ve experienced with coffee. I used to drink a cup of coffee every morning and by 11 am, I was feeling quite nauseous. So, I worried that since this product comes from the same plant as the beans that caused that late morning yucky sick feeling, I was a little concerned as this tea brewed that what I was steeping was a cup of nausea.
But I decided to be brave and try it. And keep my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t be feeling horrid a few hours later.
The sample that I was sent from Wize Monkey came in a DIY loose leaf teabag so I decided to go ahead and steep it using the teabag. I put the teabag into a teacup and heated freshly filtered water to 195°F which is my “go-to” temperature for “herbal” teas and since this is not technically a tea leaf, I thought, eh … I’ll see what happens at 195°F. I steeped leaves for 4 minutes.
The aroma is … different. I’m trying to come up with a comparable scent so you can get an idea of what I’m smelling. It smells earthy, similar to the earthiness you’d detect if you had brewed a cup of guayusa or yerba mate. It smells kind of grassy. Like a mossy, damp earth with notes of dried hay.
The flavor is a little reminiscent of guayusa, only a little more herbaceous. Guayusa tastes a little more like coffee to me only not as bitter as a cup of joe. This on the other hand does have some a touch of bitterness to it, at least in the earliest sips. I find that as I continue to sip, the bitter tone sort of dissipates, and I find that I enjoy it the more I drink it.
It has a definite herb-y sort of flavor that reminds me a bit of bay leaf. There is a light honey note to it too, and I like that this honey note develops as I continue to sip. Again … the more I drink this, the more I like it.
This product as been compared to black tea in flavor, but, I am not getting that. It has a similar texture as a black tea but not so much the flavor. I find that there is a certain invigorating quality to it even though the caffeine content is supposed to be about the same as decaffeinated coffee.
It’s a tasty ‘tea’. Different from anything that I’ve tasted, but it is vaguely reminiscent of guayusa. I enjoyed my sample of this coffee leaf tea and I’d definitely be interested in some blends using coffee leaf. Right off the top of my head, I think that this would taste good with cacao shells (a chocolate-y experience!) or with peppermint. Or perhaps a combination of both. And with the honey-like flavors, I think it would also taste awesome as the base of a masala spice blend – coffee leaf chai!
***
Please consider helping Wize Monkey reach their goal on Kickstarter! The deadline is rapidly approaching.