Janet Wolff

I looked up the Gallium.  I believe we have that growing here in the PNW. I'm currently studying to tell the difference between the healthy and more toxic varieties. The easy way, so far, seems to be the size of the flower and the leaves. The good Gallium seems to have leaves that are a little more varied in size all over the plant. I'm excited to learn more about this!

Eino Kenttä wrote:One up for cleavers (Galium aparine) seeds! I tried once, just roasting the seeds, crushing and steeping. It tasted like coffee, plus... something. My ex thought it tasted like "coffee, with a slight addition of brown beans." I'm going to experiment further, got some seeds last autumn. Maybe soaking/fermenting prior to roasting might improve things, coffee beans are fermented I believe? Cleaver seeds, as mentioned, are also supposed to contain some caffeine, though way less than coffee.

Where do you find these?

Thomas Black wrote:Have you considered yaupon holly? It is native to the southeastern US and is cold hardy to zone 7. You can make a tea of the green leaves leaves just like it’s cousin,Yerba mate (Ilex Paraguariensis), and is very tasty. However, the Native Americans of the southeast would slow roast the leaves to make a more savory beverage called the “Black Drink” or Asi Yola. If fact, the Seminole warrior Osceola’s name meant “ Black drink singer”. As an added benefit, yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) does contain caffeine. It grows quickly, is evergreen, and thrives in poor soils with little care. I’ll be taking cuttings from some wild Yaupons and ornamental weeping Yaupons tomorrow that I hope will be rooted and ready in late spring or early summer. Get up with me later this year if the plant sound like a good fit for you. Either way, good luck.

I've never heard of it - probably because I'm in the Pacific Northwest. I wonder if there's any possibility of it growing decently up here. Sounds very interesting and I'd love to try it!

Mike Barkley wrote:I like chickory coffee. Going to try growing some this year for that purpose. There is a commercial brand of coffee around here that contains some chickory. https://www.totallynawlins.com/Luzianne-Premium-Blend-Coffee-Chicory-16-oz_p_30.html

I guess I'm now concerned about the extended use of chicory having impact on our retinas... Kinda weird, but I'm just not learning about that.  Do you know anything about it?

Thanks, Greg Mosser!

greg mosser wrote:a couple more non-caffeine options include chaga mushroom and crushed, dark-roasted black walnuts (including shell) aren’t bad. i know ellendra doesn’t like the seemingly random ‘just roast it dark’ options, but if what you’re after is slightly bitter roastiness, it’s not a bad option.

I'm not familiar with chaga mushrooms - I'll have to look that up. I've heard of using mushrooms for coffee and sometimes see ads for a mushroom coffee-type blend in my FB feed. I LOVE black walnuts! Hails back to my childhood in the midwest!  So, do you just crush it all up, roast it and then...what...boil or steep in some water??? This actually sounds delicious!

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) nuts, the Kentucky coffee tree, fever wort, and sunflower, barley tea blend using acorns, and burdock root.

A lot of great possibilities here! Thanks so much! I'm curious about the sunflower. Although I can't exactly forage some of these, I can try my hand at planting the sunflower and some chicory and see what happens up here in the cooler, damp NW air.

Anne Miller, that is interesting. I've heard of endive, but didn't know it could be used as a tea or coffee substitute. I'll have to look that up. But I'm pretty sure that has to be cultivated, right? Not foraged?

"There are two kinds of chicory.

Chicory is grown as a forage crop for livestock."

I didn't know there were two - I did see there are a couple of different flower colors. I'm wondering if it might grow over in Eastern Washington as the summers get hot and dry over there.  Western is too damp and cold most of the year for chicory.

So, I realized after posting I wasn't very specific and left out a few details. I'm in Washington state (U.S.) and the climate is varied with ocean, temperate rain forests, and plains on the east side of the mountains.  I'm not really looking for caffeine, more of a earthy flavor.  I do enjoy roasted dandelion, but I was hoping for a spring alternative so I could leave the dandelions for the bees.  I was hoping to go out to the woods and forage for something I can roast.  I don't think chicory grows wild, does it?  I'll have to look up how to identify that.  I've heard of roasting mushrooms or something - we will have morels soon, but I've never gone out to harvest those. Only the chanterelles, which are really good but I don't think they are earthy enough for roasting for a coffee/tea. Hope that helps!  Thank you everyone for some ideas. I'm going to check those out as well.  If anyone has any ideas for rummaging through a forest, please let me know.