Wize Monkey

Sipping on this currently!

I continue to be so impressed and delighted with the delicious chocolate notes in the cup; plus this tea really makes me crave cake. It tastes just like the most perfectly moist (I know people hate that word, but it’s apt here) slice of chocolate cake with a drizzle of caramel on top. Mmm!

Like drinking a slice of chocolate cake – but with beet juice mixed into it to make it a little more healthy. It’s still chocolate cake, and that can never be a bad thing – but it’s got a tinge of something earthy to it that doesn’t quite feel like it should be in chocolate cake.

Still loved it though!

I was literally dreaming about this tea last weekend (ironic given the name) so I made a nice hot mug of it during the week, with a splash of almond milk, and I drank that while out for a walk outside during a light rain. There’s something super blissful about drinking a mug of hot tea during cool, crisp rain – and this was even better because it tasted like chocolate cake! A whole lot of awesome things, just all smushed together.

Everyone at my office really, really loves Wize Monkey so when they announced Chocolate Dream as part of their line up we all got really excited about it – and of course my manager ended up ordering a tin of it, which he happily shared with all of it.

This is pretty damn incredible; I mean, I’ve been a fan of pretty much all of the teas I’ve tried from Wize Monkey – but this might be my favourite? Or, at the very least, tied with the Minty Marvel, which I also really enjoy. It was so good, in fact, that I ended up placing my own Wize Monkey order not long after trying it to get my own tin, as well as try out the rest of their line up that I hadn’t yet experienced…

Basically, though, it was like chocolate cake – in the best way! It’s not super dense/rich, but it’s still incredibly flavourful with a very fudgy tasting chocolate note. What really sold me, personally, though was the hint of caramel note in the undertone. I truly am a sucker for a lovely caramel flavour in a tea – and this caramel note adds a lovely layer of flavour to the chocolate notes.

Can’t wait to get my order!

Gong Fu!

Had a cool opportunity to meet the Wize Monkey team last week, and so of course the same evening I found myself craving some of their teas – the influence of having them on the mind throughout the whole afternoon.

THis was nice – it’s similar to a green tea, but not identical. There are just more notes present in the coffee leaf that I enjoy than in a typical green tea – it’s a little bit nutty, a little bit roasty and has some nice overall sweetness. It creates an overall welcoming and approachable profile, which is only helped by the fact that it’s next to impossible to steep this poorly – at least in my experience. Good life in the leaves; this was a 10+ infusion session. I’m happy that I felt inspired to brew this one up Gong Fu!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvCFpguFsCH/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFZkonVPCbk&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=31&t=0s

If I hadn’t rechecked the label I would have assumed this was the original/unflavoured coffee leaf tea. There was no floral jasmine notes at all. There was a touch of vegetal qualities but mostly in the way of “it tastes like leaves”. It actually reminds me a lot of houjicha with its smokey and dried leaf aroma. No jasmine though, which is disappointing.

This is a pleasant EG with strong citrus and lots of bergamot. I found the citrus was almost too strong, but the coffee leaf base was slightly roasted so it was a unique take on EG. I do find EGs are much better with milk, so I added some vanilla soy milk and poured it over ice (first brewed hot but then iced and drank cold). It is almost spring here on Canada’s west coast and we have daffodils and crocuses coming up soon in the garden. It is sunny but cold today (~10 deg C) but I thought sun instead of rain/clouds was reason enough to have an iced tea.

One critique of this EG is that without a black tea base, there is no malty undertones. I also like my EGs with vanilla (cream of EG or Vanilla EG) so this plain version was made even less desirable by the lack of malty black tea and the lack of vanilla flavouring.

I’m indifferent towards this blend. I enjoy Twinnings herbal/caffeine free lemon and ginger more and it doesn’t have the 20mg of caffeine this does. I did find that if you let it steep for over 10 minutes it gets too pungent with the lemon. Either water it down quite a bit after steeping, add sweetener, or use a shorter steep. I had this iced, no sweetener.

Despite the lemon being pleasantly sour, it had this unpleasant acrid taste I did not enjoy. The ginger was spicey, which was nice.

I’m surprised I had to add this one to the database since it comes in Wize Monkey’s sampler pack.

I don’t appreciate the hibiscus (too sour) but the strawberry was lovely and very fresh/juice/natural. The coffee leaf is quite tasty with the fruity strawberry. I had this iced but not sweetened. If I was to drink it again, and as a recommendation to all of you, sweetener is a good idea to curb the sour hibiscus (especially if you let it steep for more than a few minutes). As a strawberry iced tea this is amazing and one of the best strawberry flavours I’ve ever had. The hibi completely ruins it, as is tradition.

I bought a little sampler pack of these with the condition that I finish them before the end of the month. I’ve been considering it for a while so when I saw the sampler pack for $7 in whole foods I decided to go for it.

Mango madness has been my favourite so far. Quite realistic mango flavouring, very creamy and aromatic. The coffee leaf base gives a similar roasted flavor as yerba mate. The juicy fresh mango flavor really comes out strong and it makes a good iced cup or hot (with or without milk).

It was good enough that I’m considering keeping this one in stock in my cupboard. It is low caffeine and I like the company. By providing income to coffee farmers the rest of the year (non coffee cherry/bean harvesting months) the farmers have a more secure yearly income and can afford to have fewer plants (less rainforest cut down) and spare income for food and whatnot. I like this principle and want to support alternative ways of supporting farmers.

Sipdown (704)!

Finished off the last of this sample as a giant pot of Western steeped tea, which I sipped on throughout the course of an evening this week – mostly while cooking. I believe Wize Monkey has updated the recipe for this tea, so what I finished off was the older formulation.

This is probably my least favourite of the flavours offered by Wize Monkey (again – older version of the current recipe for this blend) but I actually did enjoy this pot of it more than my initial tasting, which I felt was a little thin/lacking body for a Chai. This was still pretty simple in terms of the flavour notes coming through; coffee leaf, cinnamon, and ginger. However, I was getting much more body and heat from the spices – in particular the ginger, which was very strong and actually created some noticeable heat for me with each cup. I was getting that peppery tickle/burn at the back of my throat, but in a pleasant way. So, the experience was an improvement on the initial tasting for me.

Still – Chai isn’t largely my thing and I have a fickle relationship with ginger so I don’t think I’d order this one again, even with an updated recipe.

Evening cuppa earlier in the week.

This wasn’t bad, but for a ‘chai’ I found it lacked body and the spice elements felt very surface level. Also, really just the cinnamon/ginger stick out in terms of flavour: where is the cardamom? The clove? It wasn’t a bad cup of tea, but it just felt like it was never really the full potential of what it could be.

Current cuppa.

Every time I make this I’m reminded how absolutely incredible it is; it’s like, for one mug, I forgot that I typically just don’t enjoy bergamot. It’s rich, flavourful, and citrusy with a brightness and oddly creamy/vanilla finishing note. I don’t think there’s cream or vanilla flavouring in the blend, though I could be mistaken. If there is, I still enjoy this tea so strongly. If there isn’t, it’s all the more incredible and impressive.

There are other teas that I reach for and drink from Wize Monkey a lot more frequently that I would typically say I prefer to this one, like the Chocolate Dream or Lemon Ginger Blends, but this is the one that consistently makes me go “WOW” with every single cup.

Early morning cuppa from last weekend! I’m honestly just continuing to really enjoy this Earl Grey – and it’s weird to me because that’s usually not a type of tea I’m into but something about this one is just really good. I wish I understood why; I’m sure it has to do with more than just the fact I enjoy the coffee leaf base. It’s something with whatever the bergamot Wize Monkey is using is – it’s just very nice.

So, this is a little different for me – not because I’m new to coffee leaf teas and certainly not because I’m new to Earl Grey but just because this is the first tea I’ve ever had from Wize Monkey that was loose instead of in sachet form.

I have to say, I’m more partial to loose. I think I will always be more partial to loose over sachet. The leaf cut just seems nicer in general, too.

Anyway; this was my “something to sip on while cooking” tea that I made in one of those little “teapot for one” type of vessels where it’s literally like a teapot and a teacup built to stack on top of one another and be individual sized. It was the perfect size for me to sip on while I was doing my meal prep. I under leafed and under steeped a little bit, since it’s a little bit late for me and I don’t want to feel buzzed on caffeine right before bed. I mean, I know that there’s not a lot of caffeine in this – but there’s SOME and that’s enough for me to be cautious about it. I also added in a smidge of vanilla agave both because a London Fog coffee leaf tea sounded nice, but also because I thought the extra flavour of the sweetener might help compensate for the softer brew due to my out of the ordinary steeping parameters.

This was really delightful. I know I say, what feels like, all the time that I am NOT an Earl Grey fan and I stand by that statement as a general blanket statement for my opinions on like 90% of all Earl Grey/bergamot things. However, when I find one that I’m into it’s generally quite delightful. This is one of those quite delightful kind of EGs for me. It’s not TOO MUCH bergamot (maybe because I was so light handed), and it’s soft and sweet, with more of the citrus popping out to me than the florals which I often find harsh and perfumey.

Actually, think about it literally right now and in this moment…

I think of the 1/10 EG blends that I find pretty solid the majority of those are either “Earl Grey with a twist” (some other additional flavor like, say, chocolate) OR have more of a lighter base outside of the traditional black tea base – such as this tea with the coffee leaf or DT’s Vanilla Bergamot which was a white tea base. I wonder why the EG I’m drawn to is more delicate like that? Does it highlight the lighter, bright citrus elements more? I’ve never really thought about it too much. Someday I’ll have to do a more conscious study of that, I think…

Not bad at all!! I’m surprised. The mint is VERY subtle. More of a refreshing aftertaste than an actual flavour. But it works really well with the base. In fact, I may pick up more next year. (I say that about a lot of teas, so take that for what you wish!)
The base isn’t one I hate or love so the fact that this blend goes down so smoothly is a surprise. Easy drinking to be sure!

Intense! I guess the newest version of this got a little extra flavour. It’s almost overwhelming in scent when you open the packet. Mango bubblegum.
Steeped, the roasted notes come out to play. I definitely see what people mean by guayasa or yerba mate, in the other reviews. Though if I hadn’t been told it was mango I’d have guessed apricot.
There is also a creamy element in here that I wasn’t expecting. Almost buttery in texture.
Not something I’d keep in the cupboard myself as I’m not a huge fan of guayasa. The complexity of this appeals to me, so I’d never turn down a cuppa :P

I brought this sachet with me to the sugar shack when we went last Saturday; I anticipated either very poor tea options or no tea options so I wanted to have SOMETHING with me as a back up. I was right – the tea options were lousy, and I ended up steeping this tea after trying one of the teas they were carrying and not loving it. The water situation was also pretty awful though in that it just wasn’t hot enough to brew a proper cup. So, this one came out very light/mild and under steeped without a ton of mango and with a whole lot of that buttery taste I usually get from it.

This is growing on me, but slowly…

The mango notes really are quite nice and in this cup I didn’t even mind the weird juxtaposition between the sweet, tropical mango and more nutty and roasty sort of elements of the coffee leaf. What really messed with me, though, was the buttery element of the infusion. It wasn’t the same sort of ‘buttery’ that one might describe coconut as, for example – but more of a ‘movie theater butter’ kind of taste. I really feel like that sort of flavour note has no place with mango; and so it pulled me out of the cup a little bit.

Well, trying the second coffee leaf tea that I grabbed from Wize Monkey…

The dry leaf of this one smells really lovely; a strong, and very ripe mango aroma. I’ve been craving mango for like two weeks now, which I think is why I even ordered this one in the first place – so I was very excited to get this one steeped up.

However, I don’t think I’m really a fan of this one. The mint coffee leaf tea I tried earlier in the week is DEFINITELY better and there’s something just off about this one? It is very mango heavy and that’s not actually the thing in the blend that bothers me. I think it’s the coffee leaf base? There’s a strange buttery element and it tastes a lot more roasty than the other one did; like a really roasted yerba mate tea. That buttery roasty and almost nutty flavour just doesn’t suit the mango at all in my opinion and it really ruined the profile for me.

Ughhhh….

Another tea that I packed with me to bring to Winnipeg during my workcation!

I brought two teabags of this with me, and I ended up drinking them both while I was sick. I couldn’t taste much of the tea itself, but in a way I was still very grateful that I’d waited to drink these two until I was sick because there’s just this amazingly soothing quality that’s also really good for clearing up a stuffy nose when you’re inhaling the steam coming off a freshly brewed mug of mint tea. Peace and comfort in a cup.