Wize Up To Wize Monkey's Coffee Leaf Tea

Could the next big thing in tea, be coffee? 

PHIL: Coffee is one of the most traded commodities in the world, and let's be honest, most of us would be lost without our daily coffee fix. Well now, two socially conscious entrepreneurs are shaking up the industry by introducing us to Coffee Leaf Tea, a drink that's not just good for us, but good for the communities that harvest it.

MAX RIVEST, CEO & Co-FOUNDER WIZE MONKEY TEA COMPANY  Coffee Leaf Tea is an Arabica fusion, what it is, is we take the actual coffee plants leaves.  WE select them, wash them, dry them and then grind them up into essentially an infusion, like any other tea would be.  It has higher antioxidants than green tea by about 17%.  It’s high in Mangiferin,which is also a very powerful polyphenol.  It’s been proving to actually have anti-diabetic qualities, lowers blood cholesterol, and to have nuero-protective qualities as well”

PHIL: But one of the most interesting elements of this startup is not just their innovative coffee leaf tea, but their mission to improve the livelihoods of coffee-dependent communities…

MAX: It was a school project that starter almost two years ago now.  And after a few months of research, we discovered that this was something that could revolutionize the industry forever, in the sense that we’re going to be creating more value for the farmers themselves.  Traditionally coffee farms are profitable 3 months a year, and so if we can harvest the leaf by creating a healthy product that people can connect with and actually enjoy, then all of a sudden we’re turning the coffeee business from an extremely seasonal and volatile industry into something that would be completely perennial and have permanent jobs vs seasonal jobs.  It’s a healthy product that tastes great and can appeal to a lot of people but for some reason it hasn’t been done in Latin America where they’re dying to have an annual business.   If you look at the industry average in terms of the wages, we’re paying about 80% higher.  We just went directly to them and said “Do you want to create some more value?  How do you farm?”   We would rather put the money directly in the farmers hands.

PHIL: With a successful kickstarter campaign completed, these bold innovators don't look like slowing down anytime soon: 

MAX: We’re selling it online.  We have a sample pack for 2 packets for $10.  And we also have a pre-order tin that will be delivered in spring that is 50 grams worth of tea.  The Product is killer.  People love it.  It gives you a really nice holistic lift and it doesn’t attack the nervous system so it doesn’t give you the jitters or anything like that.  And it actually tastes really good, so it’s a bit of a bonus there.