10 Coffee substitutes

Why would you want to replace coffee? It's uplifting, has some healthy qualities, and it's also delicious, that's the reasoning of a seasoned coffee junkie. And in this qualification lies the answer. Because nobody wants to be a junkie. Yet there are millions of coffee junkies in the Netherlands. These people would be fatigued if they didn't drink coffee for 24 hours. They would also get a headache, become irritable and cranky. Well, those are the withdrawal symptoms that come with a coffee addict. You have to go through it for a while to start the day radiant with energy. After the addiction comes the hardest part: the taste temptation. That is why 10 coffee substitutes are listed here. Resist the temptation of the mild coffee aroma of a drug that has killed many good humors and turn to a healthy coffee substitute.

1. Bamboo coffee

Bambu is a brand of A. Vogel or Alfred Vogel, Swiss herbalist who sells bamboo coffee in the Netherlands. It's a kind of instant coffee. The taste is comparable to regular coffee, but your nervous system will not be thrown into a bathroom by taking you to the W.C. runs. Regular coffee makes you a bit sharper, at least from the first of the day. Bamboo coffee lacks that effect. This coffee is ideal for the evening because it does not stop sleep. Bamboo coffee is also useful as an instant coffee on holiday; you don't have to mess around with filters and bags.

Chicory coffee is made from the root of the chicory plant. This root contains a lot of inulin. Inulin is a substance that enhances the action of insulin. In fact, anyone with metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes should take a lot of inulin products because this is one of the ways to level blood sugar and reverse and cure diabetes or type 2 diabetes mellitus. Chicory coffee is a roasted coffee type. An additional advantage of this coffee is that it is good for the liver, in contrast to regular coffee, which is bad for the liver. In World War II, coffee was not available (only to Anne Frank's house, if you believe that in the diary), but people used chicory root to make a coffee substitute.

Grain coffee is sold in the Netherlands by the well-known brand Zonnatura. It is a coffee made from roasted grains such as buckwheat. Sometimes roasted fruits are used in combination with roasted grains. Unroasted coffee doesn't taste like anything. In fact, roasting grains produces a similar taste to coffee. That is why this coffee is a good substitute in terms of taste. In terms of effect it is not; you don't get the soft drug-like boosting effect of regular coffee, but that's why you are looking for a good coffee substitute.

Just like cichiorei, dandelion contains inulin. Hence, this root is good for diabetic patients. See the paragraph for chicory for this. Dandelion root has the advantage that it is extra good for the liver. In addition, dandelions grow everywhere. With this product you could try collecting, roasting and powdered dandelion roots yourself. This way you can make a coffee substitute yourself. In the south of the USA there was a boycott of the New Orleans harbor at one point in the 19th century so that people could no longer buy regular coffee. At that time people switched to drinking coffee from roasted dandelion root; an excellent substitute that is within everyone's reach.

Raw coffee is a popular marketing term that is somewhat misleading. With raw coffee you would actually think that 'green coffee', that is unroasted coffee, is meant. But Kristina from the fullyrawkristina account on Youtube has a nice recipe based on herbs, spices and fruits:

Is tea a coffee substitute? Yes of course! There are thousands of teas. You can vary more with tea than with coffee. In fact, black tea is healthy because it contains antioxidants. However, this tea is not good for the moisture balance; you quickly urinate a cup of black tea. Most herbal teas are good for the moisture balance. Remember to be moderate with medicinal herbal teas such as chamomile; use them especially when you really need them. In the case of chamomile, you only use it if you suffer from painful inflammation. Do you still like to drink a medicinal tea for its taste? Make sure you vary a lot and in any case never drink the same medicinal tea every day for longer than four weeks.

Chocolate is also a coffee substitute. You can drink it warm just like coffee. You can also add delicious whipped cream, just like with coffee. Chocolate drinks are traditionally a winter drink, but this drink is also perfectly applicable on a wet, chilly summer night in the Netherlands.

Anise milk is a nice, sweet drink with an anise flavor. You can stamp aniseed yourself and put it in a cup, but there have also been anise cubes for sale in the supermarket for many years. Mashed aniseed with raw milk and honey is the most authentic recipe to make this drink a true healing drink. You can also make anise milk with goat's milk, oat milk, rice milk, coconut milk and almond milk. You would think that soy milk is missing from this list, but for health reasons that is not a recommended product, despite the fact that many people have fallen for the soy milk marketing campaigns.

Decaffeinated coffee is the first thing people think of as a coffee substitute. Unfortunately, this is an unhealthy product. Why? Because a coffee bean is made caffeine-free with the help of acetone. Acetone is a highly toxic product that can be used, for example, to remove nail polish. Decaffeinated coffee always contains residues of acetone. If your health is dear to you, avoid this product.

Spelled is a relatively new grain on the Dutch and Belgian market. It is a great product. You can make coffee from grains by roasting them. In the case of spelled coffee, spelled is of course roasted to give it a coffee taste.