Coffee is a beverage that many people enjoy because of its distinct flavors and taste. This flavor and taste are down entirely to the beans.

However, the coffee plant is much more than the beans. There are two types of coffee tea, which refer to beverages made from the plant apart from the coffee beans and are majorly made from the coffee leaf and the coffee cherry.

Coffee tea is not as popular as coffee itself because it is not as valuable. The cherry is essential to the coffee plant because it produces beans. But even the cherry can be used in making tea after the beans have been removed.

That means, instead of discarding the rest of the cherry fruit after removing the seeds, it is used to make what is called cherry tea or cascara.

The tea produced from the coffee plant is known as coffee tea. We will look at the types of coffee tea, as explained above, how to prepare them, and the health benefits, if any.

So, you know so much about coffee. It’s time to learn about coffee tea.

What is coffee tea?

part of coffee plants

Tea is different from coffee in that it involves using hot water to extract flavors from leaves or other parts of a plant. Tea often serves as a herbal remedy because of the medical benefits of the plants used.

We already know the health benefits of coffee derived from roasted beans. But there are other parts of the coffee plant that can be used to make coffee and tea.

Coffee tea refers to beverages made from other parts of the coffee plant apart from the beans. In reality, they are different types of coffee tea, but only two can technically be referred to as coffee tea.

Types of coffee tea

Now that we know what coffee tea is let’s look at the types. The non-bean parts of coffee make up what is used to make coffee tea.

Coffee doesn’t have too many parts, though, so the leaves and the cherries are what we refer to. So the two types of coffee tea are:

  • Coffee leaf tea, which is tea made from the coffee leaves
  • Coffee cherry tea, which is tea made from the cherries after the seed has been removed.

There are two more types of coffee tea; although they can’t be referred to as tea because they involve the use of coffee seeds, they can’t fit our terms. This includes the filter coffee, which is regular ground coffee, but bagged like tea leaves and enjoyed by being filtered. Some people mix tea and coffee to produce a popular drink called Yuanyang.

However, both bagged coffee and Yuanyang can’t be referred to as coffee tea in the real sense of the word. That’s why we would limit our review to coffee leaf tea and coffee cherry tea.

Coffee leaf tea

tea made from coffee leaf

There’s a high chance you haven’t heard of coffee leaf tea because anything coffee that isn’t from the seeds (beans) isn’t considered valuable. This, however, is changing.

Only the coffee beans, which are roasted and then brewed, are popularly known. But the leaves of the coffee plant are now rising in prominence. Although before now, the cherries, from where the coffee beans are harvested, were always used to make a kind of drink called cascara, the leaves have also been found to be helpful.

Coffee leaf tea is a beverage made from the leaves of the Coffee plant, Camellia sinensis. It is highly similar to green tea in composition. Its production method involves allowing the dark green coffee leaves to dry in the sun and then slightly toasting them. To make the tea, the leaves are steeped in hot water.

Coffee leaf tea has been consumed in many parts of the world for many years but is only beginning to grow in popularity. That recent interest in this beverage is down to the health benefits.

For one, it is known to have a high concentration of antioxidants and phytochemicals, which helps fight tumors and detoxify the body, as well as contain no fats or calories.

Also, a coffee leaf tea is like a fusion of black tea and coffee in taste. It is easier to drink than the two when consumed without any additives. Although the amount of time spent in getting it steeped can affect its taste, it is not bitter when steeped slightly.

There’s a controversy over the caffeine content of coffee leaf tea. While some may claim it has no caffeine content, the truth is that it does. However, that is not a bad thing. It contains only about 20 mg of caffeine per cup. That is low enough for those who do not want a lot of caffeine and still high enough to give you the boost you need.

So, with a lower caffeine content than green tea or coffee, a composition of many illness-fighting compounds, and a sweeter taste than green tea or black coffee, many people are beginning to turn to coffee-leaf tea.

However, this beverage is not entirely new. In parts of Ethiopia, it has been consumed for decades and is made by simply boiling the coffee leaves in water with a pinch of sugar or salt.

In Indonesia, it was consumed as an alternative to coffee as the peasants were forbidden from tasting it. The coffee leaves were dried and roasted and then steeped in hot water to produce a drink known as Kawa Daun.

One factor limiting the production of coffee leaf tea is that harvesting the leaves limits its ability to produce the coffee seeds, the most valuable part of the plant. But it is believed that with the great benefits of the leaves, we may soon see people planting the coffee plant, not just for the coffee seeds but for the leaves.

Coffee cherry tea

tea mede from coffee cherries

Unlike coffee leaf tea, coffee cherry tea is as close to coffee as possible. This is because the origin of the coffee beans is the coffee cherries, also known as coffee berries.

The coffee cherry produces seeds, which are known as coffee beans. The beans are the most valuable parts of the coffee plant.

When the beans are removed, they are dried, roasted, and ground to different levels of fineness to produce different types of coffee drinks. As for the cherry, it is typically discarded. But not anymore.

The coffee cherry is dried and steeped in hot water to produce what is referred to as coffee cherry tea or cascara. Although it is very close to a coffee seed, the cherry doesn’t taste at all like coffee. Cascara rather has a flavor and tastes like a sweet herb.

Interestingly, the coffee cherry tea contains a considerable amount of caffeine but doesn’t contain as much as you’ll find in regular coffee.

How to prepare coffee tea

How to prepare coffee tea

We’ll look at methods of preparing coffee leaf tea and coffee cherry tea.

For many years, coffee leaf tea has been produced by different methods, especially in places like Ethiopia and Indonesia, where the dried leaves are boiled in hot water.

Today, tea is produced from dried leaves. The green coffee leaves are sun-dried and then brewed in hot water at about 95°C. Sometimes, the leaves are gently roasted.

When steeping the leaves, it is best to leave them for about five minutes. The color of the water should change from dark gold to red. Your coffee tea is ready to drink.

To produce coffee cherry tea, the procedure is similar. Once the cherries are sun-dried, they are allowed to steep in hot boiling water for about five minutes, after which the mixture is then sieved to remove remnants of the husk.

Health benefits of coffee tea

Health benefits of coffee tea

Coffee tea contains caffeine but the quantity isn’t as much as what is available in coffee. However, the health benefits of coffee tea are due to its composition of phytochemicals and antioxidants.

Coffee tea has more antioxidants and mangiferin than black or green tea, and coffee leaf tea has a high amount of phytochemicals.

This improves the anti-inflammatory properties as well as lowers the risk of diabetes. It is also known to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood, help in weight reduction and improve metabolism.

Coffee tea is also great for cognitive function and excellent for those who want to stay active during the day. It is a bit sweeter than green tea, black tea, or coffee, so there is a greater incentive to enjoy it.

Conclusion

As shown in the article, coffee tea is a derivative of the coffee plant and is a beverage made from parts of the coffee plant apart from the seeds.

The coffee leaf tea is made from the leaves, while the coffee cherry tea is made from cherries of the coffee plant.

They have caffeine content, so they can easily replace coffee in your diet. However, their numerous health benefits are the main reasons you may start hearing more and more about them in the coming years.

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Last Updated on October 5, 2022 by Ashok Parmar

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My name is Ashok Parmar, and for seven years, I worked as a warehouse manager that strictly dealt with coffee shops all around the United States.

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