EP. 015 Max Rivest Wize Monkey Breaking the global poverty cycle in coffee communities

On this episode of the Food Heroes Podcast, we learn how an On this episode of the Food Heroes Podcast, we learn how an innovative Tea startup is thinking outside the bean.

Coffee is the third most consumed beverage in the world, yet the coffee bean’s harvest season is only three months long. “During the off-season, almost 80% of the industry is out of work,” says Max Rivest of Wize Monkey, an ethically sourced coffee leaf beverage company that employs farm workers all-year round.
Max believed that the discarded coffee leaves could be used for more than just mulch, in a way that would provide greater stability for the farmers and migrant workers. After a couple years of trial and error, Max and his partners figured out a way to craft exceptional tea flavors from the discarded biomass. But that trial and error period didn’t come without its obstacles.