One thing we learn when we switch to living off the grid is that there are always alternative ways of doing things, especially with the help of technology. Who knew that you could make your own cup of coffee by walking outside instead of walking to the breakfast aisle in the grocery store? Use these coffee substitutes to become more sustainable and independent without having to face caffeine withdrawal!
1. Beech nuts
Beech trees are easy to identify and produce large amounts of a distinctive nut that can be collected in the fall. The thin shells are easily and quickly peeled off by hand, allowing the nut to be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute.
2. Chicory root
Straight chicory coffee has a blacker-than-black color, and is delicious drink with a bit of sugar to balance out the flavor. Harvest the roots before the plant flowers for a less bitter brew.
3. Dandelion root
A bit easier for most people to find and identify, dandelion root makes some of the best-tasting coffee of any wild substitute. Just like chicory coffee, for the best dandelion coffee harvest the roots before the plants flower for the most delicious brew.
4. Burdock root
First-year roots make the best coffee and can be harvested in the late fall, dried in an oven and roasted to produce a naturally detoxifying coffee substitute.
5. Cleavers fruit
Known as cleavers for its reported ability to “cleave” illness from the body, this natural medicine also makes an excellent coffee substitute. It’s an extremely common weed, slowly spreading across the ground and climbing in a tangled mass over rocks or stumps. It produces small flowers that turn into tiny cleavers fruits that can be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute.
6. Kentucky coffee tree
The name stems from a marketing ploy, back when coffee was expensive and hard to get in inland areas away from ports. Land developers told people that in Kentucky, they could harvest a plant that would make a great substitute.
7. Sow thistle
The tap root makes an excellent coffee substitute similar to dandelion coffee.
8. Acorn coffee
If acorns are first thoroughly soaked and ground, they can be roasted into an acceptable coffee substitute.
Have you tried any of these coffee substitutes? Are there any others we should add to the list?
Article Source: Off The Grid News
