I had the pleasure to attend the Kickstarter Campaign for Wize Monkey coffee leaf tea on November 7th. As a tea lover I felt that it was an event that I just HAD to go to.

The founders, CEO Max Rivest and COO Arnaud Petitvallet, traveled to Nicaragua in search of local coffee farmers and found Armando Iglesias from Metacalpa, Nicaragua, whose coffee farm will be providing the coffee leaf tea that is now Wize Monkey tea. I love the fact that its a local Vancouver Kickstarter. 

What’s even more great about this tea is that it will help the coffee producing communities cultivate year round, therefore providing work to the farmers and workers as opposed to only providing work for 3 months of the year (which is when the actual coffee bean can be harvested), really, it’s such an awesome concept that seems so simple! The product is ethical and organic as well. Who can’t get behind that?

There were four different flavour of tea available to sample: Armando’s Original, Mango Party, Minty Marvel and Lemon Licks. My favourite was the Minty Marvel, followed very closely by the original blend. There has been some coverage about what coffee leaf tea is and how it’s harvested but what about the taste? To me, it tasted like something in between maté and rooibos. Not quite the roasted taste of maté and light like the rooibos. It is very low in caffeine, about half as much as and more antioxidants than green tea, plus it’s low on tannins and does not have the bitterness that you can encounter with brewing a regular cup of green tea. The Minty Marvel was quite refreshing without being overpowered by the mint flavour, actually, I asked how the teas were flavoured and I’m glad to report that it’s with a water based flavouring.

Overall, I liked it! So, where can I get some? At the moment the tea can only be purchased through kickstarter.com.

Want to know more about Wize Monkey? Check out www.wizemonkey.com or email info@wizemonkey.com

Follow them on Twitter: @WizeMonkeyTea