Coffee Substitutes

Hey there! Are you trying to quit coffee, but love the taste? (I’m not one who is fond of coffee. I use it as a tool to help me through the winter) This post is for you! I’ve got some great, accessible plants that you can use a coffee substitutes! It seems that all of the seeds or fruits, like regular coffee beans, must be roasted. However, some of them need different preparations. Here are six plants of Alaska you can use as a coffee substitute.

Seeds

Iris Seeds

You are probably familiar with Iris, whether its cultivated or if you’ve seen it in the wild. Iris is generally not known to have any food uses, as it can sometimes be toxic, and sometimes not so it is best to leave it alone.

EXCEPT for the seeds. The seeds can be ground like regular coffee beans. Then you brew like regular coffee. However, because of the aforementioned toxicity, this drink should be a rare treat.

Lamb Quarter Seeds

From one flower, you can get thousands of seeds. They are similar in shape and size to poppy seeds. However, if you lightly roast them, you can lightly roast them to make a coffee substitute.

Arrow Grass Seeds

Make sure you get only the seeds, as the green leafy parts contain hydorcyanic acid (read: cyanide). But if you collect the seeds in late summer, you can roast them. Then you grind them and make coffee like usual.

Plants/fruit

Mountain Ash Fruit

The berries need to be dried AND roasted in order to be used as a coffee substitute. Once dried and roasted, treat like regular coffee beans: grind and brew.

Bedstraw

Take the entire flowering plant and steep it in water for 5-10 minutes. Bedstraw is in the Madder family, the same as the coffee plant. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you can’t have it), this is also caffeine free.

Dandelion Root

If you roast and ground the roots of dandelions from spring or fall harvest, you will get a nice coffee flavored drink. You won’t get a caffeine buzz. So, if you like the taste of coffee and can’t have caffeine, this is the drink for you.

Most of these don’t actually have caffeine in them, so if you’re looking for that buzz, you won’t find it on this list. BUT if your doctor told you to cut back and you just love the flavor of coffee, then these will be something for you to try.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope it helps you feel better naturally, the Alaskan way!