Maple Royale – R.I.P. [updated]3 min read

Maple Royale - R.I.P. - the box

yesterday I drank the last cup of my all time favorite tea. did you guess it? maple royale by the yogi tea company.
because yes, the company that produced it, stopped doing so at the end of the 90’s. we made our last box last until 2011. twelve years. which is not bad at all. but it was still a sad day for tea here…

Maple Royale - R.I.P. - nutrition facts

it was my dear friend jon chester who introduced me to this tea. after i had lived in san francisco, california from 1986 – 1993 i kept returning almost yearly, making trips all through the 90s, to try and stay in touch with my dear friends. during one of my trips jon had moved to a small cabin in tuscarora, nevada and he had invited me to come visit him there. on the first night he made me a cup of maple royale. i fell deeply in love instantly. the earthy, spicy and sweet combination went especially well with some milk and sugar, drinking it like indian chai. i bought many boxes to take home with me to switzerland. and did the same during my next visits. my wife loved it as much as i did.

Maple Royale - R.I.P. - still in its wrapper

in late 1998/early 1999 i went back to california for a longer, three month visit. early on i noticed that some stores were going out of stock of maple royale. finally someone told me the yogi tea company had stopped producing this tea. i called the number on the box and complained. the guy seemed surprised to hear me rave about the tea, informed me that it had never been too popular. but suddenly he remembered, he had seen a box of this tea somewhere in storage. and he mailed it to me! 12 boxes! or was it even more?

Maple Royale - R.I.P. - there it is ready to steep

we made these last twelve boxes on earth last and last as long as we could. at one point i emailed salus, a german herbal tea company, asking them if they planned to produce a maple/spice herbal tea. some woman mailed me back saying that they were considering it, if i could send them some samples. i snail-mailed them two teabags. which i thought was incredibly generous as we must have been down to our last three or four boxes.

Maple Royale - R.I.P. - the last bag spent

we made it last and made it last. we must have been drinking one pot a year for the last three years or so… but yesterday it was finally all over. gone. no more maple royale ever. sad. flabbergasted.

my only hope is that some herbal tea company will find this eulogy and find the heart to produce the best herbal tea ever. trust me.

i also want to try and mix my own now. but some ingredients will be hard to find.

here are the ingredients as listed on the box:

Cinnamon Bark, Roasted Carob, Barley Malt, Licorice Root, Natural Maple Flavor, Ginger Root, Natural Flavors, Sarsaparilla Root, Cardamon Seed, Black Pepper, Tahitian Vanilla Bean, and Clove Bud

i will go and dig a small grave in the forest for the last tea bag now…

update:

Maple Royale - R.I.P. - in nomi

let’s hope it grows

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