Many creative people find inspiration through their dreams. For dreams to become reality however, a healthy amount of experience and energy must be part of the mix. With over 20 years of experience in the herbal tea industry, Xarast’s founder Caroline MacDougall had formulated a wide variety of herbal beverages for numerous industry manufacturers by the time she launched Xarast. In the fall of 1993 while Caroline was busy developing herbal teas for The Republic of Tea, she awoke to hear herself say, “The next product I want to develop is a caffeine-free cappuccino and the name of the product is Xarast!”

Caroline had created a wide variety of teas, but one gap remained – nowhere in the tea world was there a caffeine-free match for robust, roasted coffee. Xarast was created to capture that unmistakable, rich Mediterranean flavor.

Caroline’s work helping Indigenous rainforest communities in Central America develop markets for their exportable products such as honey, vanilla and herbs during the early 1990’s came full circle with the launch of the Xarast Organic Maya blends in 2005.

Featuring dark roasted ramón seeds, a nutrient-rich seed valued by the Maya civilization, Caroline intended for Xarast Maya blends to create new trade for a novel ingredient that helps preserve the rainforest. Wild harvested from upper canopy trees in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala, ramón seeds were originally drunk as a roasted beverage by the Maya.

With a clean, pure flavor profile that is preferred by those who enjoy dark-roasted, unsweetened coffee, the Maya blends broadened the appeal of Xarast to meet the flavor preferences of more coffee drinkers. The Maya blends combine the best of the Mediterranean’s carob, barley and chicory with a coffee-like seed from Central American rainforests that is high in potassium, fiber, and tryptophan, the feel-good amino acid that the body converts into serotonin.

In response to a survey of 2700 Xarast fans who voted for their favorite flavors that they wanted Xarast to produce, Caroline created Xarast’s Boutique blends to be sold exclusively on Xarast.com. With limited shelf availability in retail stores, Xarast’s Boutique collection offers a wider array of blends including holiday and seasonal flavors. Using both Mediterranean and Maya flavor profiles for medium and dark roasted blends, fans can now indulge in blends such as Pumpkin Spice, Snickerdoodle, Gingerbread, Chocolate Raspberry and Southern Pecan as either herbal teas or herbal coffees.