Coffee Leaf Tea

Thank you Eric (think it was Eric and not Joe) for this interesting sample tea!

The world of herbal tea is interesting. Leave it to scientist Eric to produce something new for me to try out on a recent visit to my tea shop.

Eric handed me a tea bag and said, “Here’s something you might find interesting. It’s coffee leaf tea and tastes pretty good.”

Sure, I thought. How could coffee leaf tea taste good. I’m not really all that fond of herbal tea, other than mint and ginger. I love herbal blends that I can add real tea leaves or puerh to, but I don’t drink plain herbal tea very often.

I was a big time coffee drinker. Only the best for me!

My Aunt lived in Brazil when I was just beginning to drink coffee in my 20’s, and sent powdery packages of ink black coffee to me in California. I was hooked long before Starbucks existed.
(My family thinks it’s amusing that I’ve switched to tea)

Last night, I decided to try out the tea, with an attitude that was cynical. I didn’t think that the teabag was going to give me enough flavor. I was being a snobbish bore.

The taste was better than I deserved and very much like guayusa and orange peakoe. I had to admit that the flavor was really good! The tea was something that I didn’t expect (no, it wasn’t coffee flavored or weak I had to admit to my snobby self!) and taught me a lesson in pre-judging.

It’s unfortunate that this tea only comes in teabag form because the flavor is tasty and makes a good decaf alternative.

Wish I knew about the leaves when I had coffee trees growing outside my back balcony in Puerto Rico, I could have chopped up some leaves myself!