I am about 90% raw, and I'm going all raw. And I have been putting off the giving up of coffee, but now's the time for me to do it.

I hate green tea and black tea, they make me feel kind of sick, so that's out.

I hate sweet-tasting teas as well... no licorice, stevia, or weird apple spice, yuk

I like drinking hot bitters. (Not like burdock, though, yeeeech) I have tried drinking powdered cacao in hot water, but why waste perfectly good cacao by flash cooking it in 160 deg water?
Besides I dont want to replace the coffee with another crutch.

I tried miso, but to me miso is an occasional meal, not a daily beverage.

What can I drink thats hot and robust besides coffee?

Dandelion tea is quite bitter so you might like that.

Rooibos is a great tea with 30 times the antioxidants of green tea. Caffeine free and low in tannins.

Chamomile is nice and calming. Rosehips and hisbicus is a nice fruit tea.

Sage tea is a unique taste, as does the adaptogen jiaogulan. Nettle leaf tea is quite a mild tea which has alot of benefits, nutritive, supports the liver, kidneys, adrenal glands, thyroid and more.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]

how do you say "jiaogulan" and should I look for at an oriental market, or tcm herbalist shop or something?

Sage sounds like a brilliant idea.

Chammomile too mild, dandelion too bitter. I like red clover, and yarrow, but I was hoping someone might know of something a little bit deeper flavored. Something that tastes like toasted barley or carob or you know, like *dirt*.

Can I just brew carob? Maybe sarsaparilla? (sp?)

And I have never tried nettle, what does it taste like?

Thank you for the suggestions, what a help!

Maybe this is my calling, to create a tea combination that tastes like hot dirt.

I just tried carob and guarana. it tasted very good, but the guarana is jittery. Hm.

Coconana Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just tried carob and guarana. it tasted very
> good, but the guarana is jittery. Hm.

Guarana is one of the richest herbal sources of caffeine and like other stimulants in my opinion should be avoided.

I forgot to mention organic herbal chai if you like a spicy tea.

Nettle leaf tea tastes sort of earthy and grassy.

You will find jiaogulan tea in oriental/chinese markets and possibly in TCM shops but it will likely be listed under its botanical name - Gynostemma pentaphyllum.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

oh man! no wonder it was so jittery, that's no good!! Thank you for the info, I like earthy and grassy tastes.

Hay. Maybe I can brew up some hay. Or cattails...

White tea might be up your street also, you will see the regular connoisseur white tea in the link in my first post. Very light flavor, rich in antioxidants once again. Can be brewed up to 5 times also which changes the flavor.

If i can think of any more i will be back.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

chicory root is a traditional coffee substitute. celestial seasonings makes a nice tea with a chicory root base (I think) Bengal Spice, if i remember correctly. i used to love that stuff. thanks for reminding me how much i used to enjoy that tea.

rawalice Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> chicory root is a traditional coffee substitute.
> celestial seasonings makes a nice tea with a
> chicory root base (I think) Bengal Spice, if i
> remember correctly. i used to love that stuff.
> thanks for reminding me how much i used to enjoy
> that tea.


Actually, I don't know if that one is caffeine-free. The one I bought from that company was called Roast Aroma. There are other brands that make a grain beverage blend like Tecchino. I like Caffix myself.

i like how drinking coke or pepsi makes me feel but i don't drink them because of the excess white sugar/corn syrup so much. i think it'd be great if there was like a noncarbonated and/or less sweet version healthier cola drink. i think that's the only thing that i might give coffee up for.

i've also tried a nice oatstraw "mineralizing" blend once. that was nice, i felt great. i never restocked. i'd love to find some of that stuff again. i'll see if i can't find the recipe. it was really good.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2011 08:08AM by rawalice.

I would support what power lifer said about Rooibos tea - it's really good - I like it both with or without milk (rice milk or whatever) - I like it as much or more than black tea. And you can also add spices to it (ginger, cardamom cinnamom etc.) to make a chai, or else some vanilla if you want something a bit sweeter.
But I like it most plain.
Honeybosch is also good although I had to aquire a taste for that.
there's also yerba mate - I love that too but I don't know about stimulant effects - its never made me jittery but it is energy inducing.

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I have enough kitchen experiments to keep me busy for at least a week now. Thank you!

I wish I was cool, but I have had rooibos tea before and I don't like it. Not enough bite. I think it has a strange soft flavor, yuk.

Chickory I could try and see how I like it.

Rawalice, try this:

Brew extra extra strong sarsaparilla tea, and dissolve honey into it. That's your cola syrup base, and then you just mix it with some kind of fizzy water.

Cocoana,

Chicory should work for you, if you are after something, well, dirt-like. Burdock root cold brewed tastes quite a bit like soil, also, now that I recall. Good luck with your experiments

I like pukka herbs they make some good blends for a now and again change. Dr Stewarts also makes a good sleep blend that has valerian, hops etc, works pretty well i find.

Ultimately though i just stick with rooibos mostly at the moment.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]

Rawalice maybe try this recipie .. i havent (im a rootbeer lover myself) but maybe it will satisfy your tastebuds

Raw Coca Cola [www.goneraw.com]
Submitted by ladycgreen on March 13, 2009 - 1:27pm
Average:
Servings:
2-3
This is so crazy, I made this juice this morning and it tastes like Coca Cola with just a little more thickness and without the bogus corn syrup. This drink is a party pleaser and with anyone out there who is living with room-mates and or significant others on the SAD diet, they will be pretty surprised when they taste this Raw Coca Cola that is actually good for them. Smile

Please read the notes section


Ingredients:



2 Green Pears
2 Red Bell Peppers
5 Collard Greens
Green leafy tops of of two Beets
Little bunch of parsley
1/4 Teaspon lemon
1/4 Teaspoon of Ginger


Preparation:



Please Note: I juiced lemon and ginger in my juicer first and made a gingery lemonade and cleaned out the pitcher, but not the juicer so there was probably some residuals of the lemon and ginger in my juicer when I juiced the rest of the ingredients. That is why I called for such a little amount of ginger and lemons. If you would do me the favor and juice everything but the lemon and ginger and see how it tastes without it first and if its not at your desired taste then add the lemon and ginger, to see if you really need these ingredients. I hope you enjoy the thick raw coca cola drink

Juice everything and either drink right away or let flavors sit for two hours together in fridge

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

back to the tea question

i too feel almost nauseus drinking black tea lately .. my friend said to pour the water over the tea leaves discard the first pour and pour over again ...

it works .. i think alot of the bitterness and caffeine is in the first pour-over the leaves



...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Thank you for the tip on discarding the first pour. I just heard that from a Japanese person I know a few weeks ago, and totally forgot they had mentioned that to me!

Thank you for the cola recipe, how bizarre, I will try it!

It made me laugh when it occured to me that since I'm givingup coffee, I might as well just drink white willow bark tea all the time...

...cuz i'm gonna need it!

I have managed to get some tulsi(holy basil) tea recently and it is delicious, a mild natural spicy flavour. It is actually a mix of 3 different tulsi.

Tulsi(holy basil) is a lesser known adaptogenic herb which has a number of great benefits such as supporting adrenal gland function, modulating the immune system, stress relief etc.

Trying to get it in stock at the moment.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]

I also struggle with letting coffee go. Teechino is a pretty helpful transitional tool- it's made with grounds and it's oily like coffee. It is by no means raw, but it's not as acidic as coffee, and has no caffeine. It's mostly carob, I think.

You should try some of the adaptogenic herbal teas CJJ, although they dont provide anywhere near the buzz that caffeine does, they do help naturally increase energy and aren't detrimental to the adrenal glands(they support them).

You could even try some of the adaptogens which actually do have very mild CNS stimulative properties such as korean ginseng but still has all the benefits of the other adaptogens and supports the adrenal glands. We are getting the tea in soon, along with the 6 year aged roots. I tried these last year and they are the best quality ginseng i have came across, very strong.

Tulsi(holy basil) is another common adaptogenic tea.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]

Managed to get both tulsi(holy basil) and korean ginseng in stock at last.

The korean ginseng is of the highest quality available. Been having alot of fun playing around with it again in all forms. Will post a video soon probably of me preparing the root.

Wish i could find some wild ginseng which is said to fetch for around 20,000 USD for about an ounce or something silly. Would still love to try it though.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]