Alternatives to coffee

If there is a popular drink that is drunk almost at all hours, that is coffee. Upon waking up, in the mid-morning rest, after eating, in the middle of the afternoon …

If there is a popular drink that is drunk almost at all hours, that is coffee. When you wake up, in the mid-morning break, after lunch, in the afternoon … and there are those who even dare to have a coffee at night . It is taken hot, cold, frozen, alone, with milk, with vegetable drinks, in a smoothie and is also part of some desserts. So how do you do without this much-consumed drink? We propose other alternatives to coffee.

ALTERNATIVES TO COFFEE

For different reasons: health, economic, fashion and trends, etc. we may be interested in or need to do without the so “helpful” coffee, or we want to reduce its consumption. The possibilities that are offered to us depend on the “function” that we give to coffee in our lives or in each of the intakes in which we take it. Let’s see the best alternatives to coffee options and how we can use them depending on the moment or the objective.

Cereal and chicory extracts

A common option to replace coffee, especially at breakfast, are barley extracts, barley malt or chicory root. These ingredients are sometimes used as part of products made from a mixture of them, but they can also be used separately. In any case, you get a softer drink than coffee and without caffeine.

Teas

They have less caffeine than coffees and are an option to give variety to our breakfasts, breaks or end of meals. The best known is black or English tea, but we are consuming more and more green tea and we also find red and white tea.

Infusines

Similar to teas, but without caffeine, rooibos infusions, chamomiles , poleos, fruit and / or spice infusions … can give a special and even exotic touch to our after-meals and outings between meals.

Milk and fermented milks

Milk does not always have to be accompanied by coffee, tea or chocolate, since it alone can be a good option both for breakfast and mid-morning or to end a meal, or especially dinner. Another possibility is fermented milk, of course drinkable yogurt and also kefir.

Alternative vegetable drinks to milk

In this case we have to look at whether or not they have added sugars and the amount, if they do, as there are notable differences. Almond, hazelnut, coconut, soy, rice, oatmeal drinks … are a good alternative to consider.

Fruits

With the fruit we know that the best option is to take it in its natural form, but when we make a drink, it is better to crush it than to make smoothies or juices, since when crushed we take advantage of the whole piece. Thus, we can make smoothies or slushies with a very good flavor, appetizing, refreshing and colorful.

THE ROLE PLAYED BY COFFEE

Each moment of the day that we have a coffee has particular characteristics and circumstances and based on this we will find alternatives that will suit us better than others in each case.

• When we want to wake up
  In this case what we are looking for is caffeine and it is true that coffee is one of the beverages with the highest caffeine content, except for stimulating drinks such as cola or energy drinks. But we can gradually tend to reduce our daily dose of caffeine because, oddly enough, it is possible to wake up without caffeine. On the other hand, we can choose different types of tea that contain caffeine but in less quantity than coffee, such as black, green, red or white tea.
• When it performs a social function
  In reality, sometimes we are not even thirsty, but we go out for a drink with colleagues and friends in the middle of the afternoon or mid-morning and there seems to be no other option. But why don’t we think of others? There are thousands of infusions: a rooibos; an infusion of red fruits or ginger and lemon, apple, cloves and cinnamon … or the most helpful that they usually have everywhere. Other options? A sparkling water, or a tonic, although the latter usually contains sugar, a light soda, or the best option, a water, without more. In fact, it should always be our regular drink and… why not drink it? Let’s make water fashionable!
• When we associate it at the end of a meal
  Sometimes it seems that we have not finished eating if we have not had our coffee. It is a matter of habits: if for us the end of the meal is a fruit for dessert, we will have that sensation with the fruit and if not with a yogurt or with whatever we have established a routine with. But routines can be changed. Sometimes it costs, but you can. If we want to find another way to finish our meals, in addition to “changing the chip” and associating dessert at the end of the meal, and not coffee (if we have or acquire the habit of having dessert, fruit or yogurt, preferably) , we have other options. A glass of warm milk can give us a comforting sensation after ingestion and we are already dispensing with caffeine. If the problem is not caffeine, we can have a green tea with mint, a black tea with lemon … It is about different options to finish a meal with a warm drink. The infusions, and if they are digestive even better (chamomile, fennel infusion, mint infusion, etc.) are also an alternative.
• When we want to refresh
  ourselves Sometimes we drink coffee with ice with the intention of refreshing ourselves. We can choose, then, for any other cold drink: teas, infusions, sugar-free soft drinks, natural or sparkling water, etc. Other more elaborate or festive options can be the slushies, although we must bear in mind that they generally contain a lot of sugar, or the smothies or milk shakes or vegetable drinks with crushed fruit that, served very cool, are a delight. Milk with banana and cinnamon, almond and strawberry drink, soy and peach drink, or beet and orange granita or beet and carrot, why not?

A DAY WITHOUT COFFEE

• Breakfast: we accompany our breakfast with a black tea with unsweetened almond drink.
• Mid-morning: we liven up the mid-morning stop with water.
• Food: We finished our meal with a sugar-free mint infusion.
• Mid-afternoon: mid-afternoon we refresh ourselves with a beet, carrot and orange smoothie.
• Dinner: we end the day with a warm glass of milk that comforts us.