Coffee substitutes anyone?

LaurieLovesLearning

I know you can use chicory & also coffee leaves as a tea, but it's very difficult to find coffee leaves & I'm not about to strip my young plants just yet.

@Torey You said you used the 5 mushroom powder-cocoa blend as a substitute?

My oldest can't drink coffee, and misses it. A bit makes her shaky. She wondered if the 5 mushroom powder with cocoa (or just the 5 mushroom powder, or any of the mushroom powders) from Harmonic Arts would be safe to take if she was expecting. She's thinking ahead.

Torey

I'll have to get back to you on the medicinal mushrooms.

So many things to be avoided during pregnancy. I looked at Rosalee de la Foret's Roasted Roots Brew thinking it might be a good substitute but chicory and burdock are on the "not recommended" list as both "might" lead to miscarriage.

Roasted dandelion root on its own might be an alternative in moderation.

While I was looking I found an interesting looking product. Fig coffee. Never heard of it before. I will look in our local health food store to see if they carry it and if I can buy a small amount to try. This is a link to a blog article about these products during pregnancy at one of the brands. There seems to be other brands on the market besides this one.

https://figbrew.com/blogs/news/healthy-alternatives-to-coffee-for-pregnancy-eliminating-caffeine-for-baby

Torey

As with many herbs during pregnancy, most sites will tell you that there isn't enough research out there to determine safety. Reishi, cordyceps and shitake seem to have the highest safety ratings during pregnancy.

Of course, the companies selling medicinal mushroom powders or beverages like mushroom coffee and hot chocolate will tell you that "as far as they know" their products are safe.

I have found a couple of studies indicating that both reishi and shitake have been found effective in treating induced gestational diabetes in rats without side effects.

There is one study showing no abnormalities or lack of fetal development (again in rats) using a lion's mane supplement, suggesting its safety.

Another study suggests that chaga might be beneficial in preventing miscarriage or pre-term delivery when toxoplasmosis is a factor.

I found this article about the benefits of eating table mushrooms to reduce the risk of pregnancy induced hypertension. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7286351/

So there are medicinal benefits during pregnancy for most of the mushrooms and they seem to be safe, but I don't want to be the one that makes the statement that they are safe during pregnancy.

LaurieLovesLearning

Thanks @Torey.

LaurieLovesLearning

This has a number of really interesting flavors. It is available in the US & in a few places in Calgary, Alberta. Of course, flavors are found on Amazon. iHerb is what they recommend for international orders.

I was wondering what this might be like. Hazelnut is a favorite flavor, so why I chose this one to ask about. Chicory would be my only concern.

https://www.amazon.ca/Teeccino-Herbal-Tea-Hazelnut-Prebiotic/dp/B09NZD6FBX/ref%3Dmp_s_a_1_16?keywords=teeccino&qid=1691889445&sr=8-16

Torey

I have looked into chicory more and while it does have risks of miscarriage or early labour, it seems that it is in larger amounts than what is found in most products or preparations. Kind of like the situation in many studies where products are given to rats to find out how much will eventually cause issues or cause an overdose.

I found more than one reference that suggested docs recommend that one cup of chicory coffee per day (2 Tbsp or 11 grams of chicory) is OK during pregnancy, particularly if the mum is having an issue eliminating coffee. So this product has 6 grams total per tea bag which means that there is probably about 1 gram of chicory is in a serving.

Chicory also has benefits. It can help delay the onset of gestational diabetes. It also may help with digestive issues or constipation during pregnancy. So its a risk/benefit decision. I would think that the increased risk of miscarriage would likely affect those women that are in a high risk category for their pregnancy anyway but much less so for those that are in good health without other risk factors. Just an opinion, though, not a recommendation.

This looks like a very tasty product. I see it has figs in it, too. I'm probably going to get lost down the rabbit hole of research on figs now.

LaurieLovesLearning

Thanks @Torey. That's what I was finding too.

I did find a suggestion to avoid it within the last week or two before the baby is due, due to the blood thinning properties that chicory has. This was as a precaution.

One more tea that a mom created is this one:

https://www.drinknujo.com/products/nujo-classic-grind

She says she can give a quote for shipping here, but has no retailers carrying it yet.

VermontCathy

I've been really frustrated by the lack of plants containing caffeine that can grow here in cool climates.

The best non-caffeinated tea I've made is spruce tea, either served hot or iced. I clip a short, green branch from my spruce tree and steep it in hot water before adding ice and moving it to the refrigerator. The only problem is that the smell fills the kitchen during steeping, and while I like it, my husband hates it. He can tell immediately when I have been steeping spruce tea!

Pine tea is not nearly as tasty, so I don't make it any more.

I started growing peppermint for the first time this year. Hopefully it will get established and give me another tea option.