Could coffee leaf tea be your next favourite drink?

If you’re still sipping coffee made from grounds, or tea made from leaves, I’m sorry, but you’re out of the loop. It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee leaf tea.

What? Yes. Coffee leaf tea could soon be the hottest (ha) trend in beverages. As Treehugger points out, brewing the leaves of the coffee plant rather than the bean results in a drink that’s lower in caffeine and higher in antioxidants – even more so than green tea. It’s also better for farmers who want to make money from their coffee plants.

That’s because the beans can only be harvested for three months of the year, many farmers and their employees struggling to make ends meet for the rest of the year. The leaves of the plant, on the other hand, can be harvested at any time. They’re also less susceptible to price changes than the fluctuating coffee bean market, so could provide a more stable income and a potential route out of poverty.

Entrepreneurs Max Rivest and Arnaud Petitvallet discovered that coffee leaves could be made into tea when they were graduate students in France. They’ve now launched a new Vancouver-based company, Wize Monkey, with the help of Armando Iglesias, a Nicaraguan farmer. Once his crop is ready, they’ll start shipping their coffee leaf tea this spring.

Visit the website to pre-order or to find out more.