A research team at The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Faculty of Land and Food Systems has identified that coffee-leaf tea has the ability to lessen the biochemical mediators that influence high blood pressure and inflammation.

Created by infusing processed coffee leaves, the beverage was found to affect the production of nitric oxide and anti-inflammatory agents.

UBC Food Sciences associate dean Dr David Kitts said: “Our research showed that using processing methods commonly used for tea, for coffee leaves, produced unique antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities that we associated with known mixtures of phytochemicals specific to the coffee leaf.

“Both immune-stimulation and immune-suppression capacities observed were affected by the tea processing method used for the coffee leaf beverage.”

“Both immune-stimulation and immune-suppression capacities observed were affected by the tea processing method used for the coffee leaf beverage.”

The bioactivities of coffee-leaf tea were mainly attributed to a complex mixture of phytochemicals unique to the leaf. According to the research team, the beverage does not get bitter like regular tea.

Coffee-leaf tea was first pioneered by Vancouver-based social venture Wize Monkey, which was aiming to generate year-round income for coffee farmers.

Wize Monkey co-founder and CEO Max Rivest said: “Ethiopians have known about the remarkable health benefits of coffee-leaf tea for more than 1,000 years. It’s only now that we can start to uncover all the benefits thanks to our partnership with UBC.”

Coffee-leaf teas are available at Sprouts, Whole Foods NorCal, Gelson’s, Amazon Prime and independent health food stores.