No caffeine for me.

[woobat]

Last year at about this time, I noticed that the stabbing pain I'd been having in my stomach was related to drinking coffee. I quit the coffee and switched to green tea, and cut my caffeine habit way back as a consequence

Comments

[heef]

Does hot cocoa have caffeine? I thought I remembered it having some, but not a lot.

[kassrachel]

My sympathies on the need to kick the caffeine habit.

Herbal tea is the first thing that comes to mind for me. Mint tea, chammomile tea, Celestial Seasonings tea (I'm partial to their almond one, and their assorted Zingers), Tazo tea ("Calm" is their chammomile, "Passion" their red zinger/rosehip-type blend, and they have a nice Orange Spice).

Hot mulled cider, too.

Hot milk with honey is also mighty tasty, though richer, more analagous to cocoa.

[stealthmuffin]

Rote Grutze tea ("red groats," what Goodrich used to call African Teaberry).
Rooibos tea. (Either of the above are at Upton Tea.)
Cocoa, though I'm starting to wean myself off in the name of losing weight.
Hot Tang. Yes, I'm a dork.

[minyan]

Ginger steeped in hot water has a kick. With honey is good too.

Hot milk can be spiked with all kinds of things - with Irish Mist, it's good on a sore throat.
There's mulled wine, which you and Sylvantechie introduced me to.
Neither are much for pepping you up, but they're hot and sweet.

(Roasted beech nuts are supposed to taste kinda like coffee. No idea what's in them, but the idea could be fun to play with. There must be uncaffeinated things we cound roast, grind up an steep.) I second the almond tea Kass mentioned too. I once had some at 2 a.m. after more than 12 hours of contradancing, and it was the most soothing thing. I bet medieval or colonial cookbooks would have ideas for hot drinks too.

I'd bet an herbal chai wouldn't be hard to put together, since it mostly tastes of spice... milk with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger might do in a pinch, or something like almond or vanilla tea could give a base for it.

*hug* good luck!

[osirusbrisbane]

I'm really fond of green tea with toasted rice, and then found that if the rice is well-toasted, you don't even need the tea leaves.

Chai and hot milk are also tasty.

[jreidy]

When I want a thick drink that holds up to adding cream and somehow meets my "coffee" yearnings, I do Celestial Seasonings Roastaroma which is roasted barley, chicory root, carob, cinamon, and allspice.

I occassionally have a yogurt drink now for an afternoon snack. Creamy, sweet, and tides me over until dinner. They have low-sugar varieties.