It is too early in the morning in New York City and usually any New Yorker would grab their cup of coffee to speed through their day. Unfortunately for some of us coffee is not an option. I usually get what I call the "Crazies", which consists of a fast heart rate, a jittery feeling and high anxiety. Luckily for me and for many other non-coffee drinkers, I found a great and healthy alternative to coffee. Guayusa (Wa-yu-sa) Tea.
I discovered this tea through a Brooklyn based company called "Runa" (which means "fully alive" in the indigenous Kichwa language of the Ecuadorian Amazon). At first I was a little skeptic to drink the tea because I have never been a tea drinker. But when I tried my first bottle, the Hibiscus-Berry, I realized that it was actually pretty delicious! The tea itself was not very sweet, only 14 grams of Organic Cane Sugar and the taste was very smooth. It was so refreshing and it never overpowered my palate.
The real challenge however, was to see if what they advertised in the bottle was actually true; "Focused Energy". So I drank the 14 oz. bottle of tea and waited in fear of the dreaded caffeine "Crazies". This 14 oz. bottle has 90 milligrams of caffeine which comes from the tree leaf (A cup of coffee has 120 mg).
I waited and waited but the "Crazies" never came. However, what did come was a slow and gradual feeling of awareness. Colors seemed brighter, my mood lifted, I was smiling more, talked more, felt a pep in my step and I was able to think more clearly. I was also surprised that the caffeine crash never came. The energy left as gradually as it came without any weird side effects. It was.. AMAZING!!
I went home later on that day and did a bit more research on the tree Leaf. I found out that this Amazonian gem does not belong to any tea family but it is a tree leaf that comes from the Holly Genus tree. That explained the smoothness in the taste since it did not contain any Tannins, which is what usually gives TEA leaves their bitter taste.
Even though this tree leaf is not in the tea family, it is actually higher in antioxidants than any other tea out there in the market (It has twice as many antioxidants as Green Tea).
One of the most interesting facts about my new favorite tree leaf is that it has Theobromine, a stimulant commonly found in chocolate. It also has L-theanine, a glutamic acid analog found in green tea which is known to release stress. That explained why I got that "Happy Feeling" 15 minutes after drinking the bottle.
So what can I say? A tea with 90 Milligrams of caffeine that gives you a sustained energy AND makes you feel happy? I am in. I can absolutely say that this is a great alternative to coffee for us non-coffee drinkers or for people who just want to lay off the bean for a while.
"Runa" who is distributing this tea now offers a variety of options (did I mention they are all Organic and Fair-Trade?).
You can buy the sweetened bottled tea which comes in 4 different flavors;
Mint, Hibiscus- Berry, Traditional and Lemon-Lemongrass,
Or the NEW unsweetened flavors Lime and Guava,
Or the tea bags and loose leaves which include these flavors: Mint, Traditional, Ginger-Citrus and Cinnamon Lemongrass.
You can order any of these on-line on their website
www.runa.org or purchase them at your local health food store. You can check on their website which stores around your area carry the product. So when you need that focused energy think of GUAYUSA!
