Background

Late in 2021, we received our fist negative review in our history.  Apologies to Yuri for taking so long to respond.  Time, or lack of it more like, has been the enemy as we’ve worked through the pandemic in multiple fields in order to survive the past couple of “interesting” years.

We respect all our customers opinions, and want to let them know more about our experiences and use cases of this remarkable product.  We decided to publish our response to his original comment in the hope that the following information can be seen by more people, as it is probably the most comprehensive response I’ve ever given to reported lack of efficacy.

Hi Yuriy,

Thanks for your comment from last November.

Apologies for not having published it yet.  You kindly took the time to share your thoughts, and it deserved a comprehensive response, which until now, time didn’t permit.

Your review is the first two-star rating we have ever had, across two websites in two countries and hundreds of reviews.

The vast majority are 5-star, and never below 4 until now – something that we are incredibly proud of.  In all those reviews are the voices of people whose lives has been changed by this remarkable product.

We also sell the tea in Australia, and had done so for around six years up until that point, also with dozens of amazing reviews – https://teaforlife.com.au/.

Given that background, I’ll progress to addressing your concerns.

As it typical for any raw herbal product sold online or in stores, we make no health claims about the tea, encourage everyone to do their own research (or ask us, as we have years of accumulated knowledge in our coca-fuelled brains).  [INSERT STANDARD FDA DISCLAIMER HERE HAHA 😊]

I can assure you that we have never, and will never, supply anything other than 100% coca leaf.  This is our mission and it is dearer to our hearts than just about anything except our families!

We have only ever purchased our tea from a single trusted source in Peru, who has a government-issued license to buy and sell Delisse coca tea products directly from the factory, the state-run enterprise known as ENACO, a farmers co-op.

I can’t comment on smell, that is too subjective – a person can smell and describe totally different notes on any natural substance, from wine to chocolate and beyond.

Personally, my big Italian nose was born to sniff food (and beer!), and to my olfactory apparatus, the aroma of the tea contained in the tea bags is distinct from regular black tea.

I’ll instead focus on your reported lack of effects.

I write this response assuming nothing about your current state of health, and comments below should be taken as general, and are based upon years of my own research and the feedback from so many customers.

The health status of our customers in the past of course varies as much as being human allows, which is as wide as can be imagined.  From health-conscious, fit, active people, to people with some pretty severe physical or mental health conditions.

For serious disease such as cancer, for example, we cannot expect any natural herbal product to take the place of professional medical care and pharmaceuticals.  Lab-made medicines have their place, as do those made by Mother Nature.

Of course, I cannot know your health status, and the onset of the tea’s revered effects can be influenced by a number of biological factors, as well as the quality, potency and “form factor” of the tea itself.

I list below the first few things that come to mind about what we can’t know about any customer (and of course we don’t ask why people buy our tea).

• The presence or absence of underlying conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.
• If looking toward weight loss, how far from your “ideal weight” you are. Morbid obesity can’t be compared to “just need to loser a couple of pounds”
• The state and quality of your current diet.
• Taking the tea on an empty of full stomach – empty stomach produces the best results.
• Whether you are consuming the tea bags or powder.
• If you are increasing potency with an “activator” such as sodium bicarb.
• If you are adding mechanical extraction to the preparation.  I have used an AeroPress coffee maker for many years to produce more potent beverages.  The AeroPress works by creating a high pressure inside the device, and if used correctly, can definitely enhance the flavor and potency of the resulting brew.

It is certainly true that the tea bags are significantly weaker than the tea powder.  The tea powder is (was) our best seller and is still the most requested product.  The powder has the advantage of a very small particle size, which increases the surface area for hot water to extract more of the active components of the coca leaf.  The AeroPress is an amazing and brilliantly simple device, and I also use it daily for my morning coffee.  I got mine from Amazon

Each Delisse tea bag contains a little less than one gram of crushed coca leaves.  People seem to react differently in terms of their sensitivity to coca tea, and well as the time of onset to feel any benefits.  Some will feel benefits almost right away, and others take longer – everyone is biochemically unique.

It is well known that levels of alkaloids need to build up in the bloodstream for effects to be felt.  This can take a few days on continued use.  You can decrease the time taken for the onset of beneficial effects by taking higher doses.  Personally, with the tea bags, I find I need to use two or three to clear my morning brain fog.  I usually empty the tea bags into an AeroPress (often will put the tea in a coffee grinder to decrease the particle size first), activate it with a couple of pinches of sodium bicarb, then brew for four or five minutes.  The AeroPress creates a darker brew and significantly stronger tea, as the pressure it creates, as well as the bicarb aids in extraction of the good stuff.

There’s more information here for different methods of effective brewing of tea bags, so please check that out.

Now that the powder is back in stock after two long years of waiting, I’ll be going back to the method of administration I used to use, and what worked best for me individually; after my morning coffee, I’d simply swallow one or two teaspoons of the powder with some water and in a few minutes would feel the effects that this remarkable plant is justly reputed to have.

In contrast to the tea bags, eating a teaspoonful of powder would be equivalent to perhaps 4 to 6 teabags.  We love the teabags, and enjoy the flavor very much, especially cold-brewed – see our Iced Lemony Coca Tea recipe at our Australian site – https://teaforlife.com.au/recipe-ideas/iced-lemony-health-tea/.

Going forward, I intend to use both tea bags and powder daily to keep my body fuelled and my mind productive.

I can’t know the quality of your diet, but I have observed major synergistic effects by using coca tea in combination with an intermittent fasting diet.  The tea works so well on an empty stomach, and so on a completely empty stomach after a 12 or 16 hour fast, I find two benefits – increased potency, and the famous appetite suppression, which helps me resist weakening and snacking on something.

Personally, I fully gave up refined carbs (pasta, rice, pizza, bread) about a year ago, when there was no coca tea to go around, and lost an impressive amount of weight in a short time using intermittent fasting and eliminating carbs.

These days, I only eat wholefoods, organic where possible.  I had already given up sugar many years before, and I think this is instrumental in levelling up the health benefits of my current approach.  I plan to write more about how to integrate coca into a healthy lifestyle, and other supplements I’ve used in my quest for better health.

In conclusion, there’s not a single herb, nor pharmaceutical drug for that matter, that is a “magic pill” all on its own.  Depending on what you want to achieve, which, from your description is a pretty significant lifestyle change, my feeling is that you’ll need more than a bag or two each time, and possibly pair that with significant dietary changes.

Again Yuri, allow me to apologize for the lateness of this reply.  Your comments justified a comprehensive a response, and I hope that the above goes some way to providing that, albeit belatedly.

Best of health,

Mike the Coca Tea Lover