I had a lovely Saturday night. Things were going quite well on my friend date. We ate a nice, large meal at Blue Plate on Montana, got dessert at Beachy Cream, spontaneously wandered over to the Santa Monica Pier where we played stupid carnival games (did not win) and took silly photos in a photo booth that smelled like urine. For a night cap, we decided to get tea. I knew Cacao is open til the wee hours and had past by it once before on my way to Cafe 50's. It was at this pit stop that the night got weird.
Upon entering, the guy at the front named Aaron (?) was extremely friendly. We chatted with him about who knows what. Shot the breeze, as they say. I ordered a "sleepytime" tea (typically a mixture of chamomile and peppermint - I drink a tea from trader joes with this name every night before bed, and it has more calming properties than sleep-inducing ones). He made a few comments, that at the time meant nothing, but looking back...could be interpreted differently. When I asked what the sleepytime tea had in it he said "Don't worry, it'll knock you out". The sleepytime tea box (which one would assume held the tea-bags) was the Celestial brand, not the best, but one I've had before. My friend asked to be surprised, but she didn't want something caffeinated. He said he'd make her a "red bowl" (not sure why it was named this) and told her it was "special".
Then I went to the bathroom. Big mistake. When I got back our teas were on the counter, waiting for us. Neither one of us had watched the preparation - why would we watch tea get made you ask? Keep reading, cowboy.
Upon first taste the red bowl was amazing, it was chamomile tea and soymilk infused with honey. We chatted some more, for about 15 minutes, allowing our drinks to cool, and then we started to drink our tea. At this point Aaron made his way outside to chat up some other customers, leaving us alone.
After about 20 minutes of drinking our tea, I felt very tired. Kind of like it just hit me. My friend told me that she felt weird, all of a sudden. We both started panicking. We felt stoned. We got up and left, leaving the tea where it was. I went up to Aaron and asked if he'd put anything in our tea and he angrily defended his product.
We sat in the car laughing at what was happening. Was our tea laced with some sort of marijuana honey? What the heck! Now, the logical side of me, says this can't be. Maybe we were just tired, run down from a long day, we both got hit with fatigue at the same time, and due to anxiety and adrenaline caused by the situation, we felt stoned (the power of suggestion - I was tired --> my friend tells me she feels drugged --> I freak out and convince myself I'm stoned too). However, I sincerely cannot deny that feeling I had - the laughter at things that aren't funny, the tingling hands and lips, and slow, heavy, confused, out of body feeling = all things I've experienced from marijuana...but also can be caused by plain and simple anxiety. Very hard to tell. My friend, however, is convinced our drinks were laced with something.
After we got into sweats, climbed into my bed, and watched old home videos of me, we started to feel better. I believe it took me about 30 to an hour to feel like myself, and my friend a little longer.
I don't want to rate this coffee place, because I can't do so accurately. The red bowl drink tasted amazing, but the side effects were very undesirable. The place is open late, but you will be judged by hipster coffee junkies that sit in grungy clothes at the tables on the sidewalk. I thought Aaron was a cool guy, but maybe he is too cool. I don't know. Very weird experience, and I will not be going back. If you go, you might have the same experience we did, or have a pleasant experience drinking tea that doesn't do anything aside sooth your aching throat or warm you up on a cold day.
Learn more about Cacao here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/cacao-coffee-house-los-angeles
(NOTE: I could not find any yelp reviews suggesting a similar experience).
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