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Anne Miller wrote:My first thought was Chicory since it is a coffee substitute. And yes it grows in Indiana, so you might be able to find some growing wild.
Purdue University list of Herb, Aromatic, Medicinal, Bioactive Crops
Here are some comments when I tried to search for what plants have caffeine:
Caffeine isn't a primary compound in plants. It doesn't serve a function that a plant naturally needs to live. Therefore you will be hard pressed to find many plants that contain caffeine in the wild. Almost all caffeine comes from either seeds or leaves. Only about 100 plants contain some form of caffeine, most being minimal. Probably people with expertise locally with edible plants could help you more, I just know caffeine isn't primarily found in a lot of North American plants.
The plant with the most caffeine in North America is the Ilex vomitoria and various varieties of said. It's the North American equivalent of Yerba Mate. Don't let the name bother you. The Indians made an extra strong brew for ceremonies to induce vomiting. In every day use they made a milder brew with steamed green leaves and lightly roasted leaves. Details are on my website.
Three common commercial varieties of Ilex vomitoria are Ilex nana and Ilex schiller (female and male dwarf versions for hedging) and Ilex vomitoria var. pendula (an ornamental which if fed nitrogen has more caffeine than any plant.)
According to Jim Pojar, in his book "Plants Of The Pacific Northwest Coast," The dried ground up seeds of Scotchbroom (classified invasive in Oregon, don't know about your part of the region) can be used as a coffee substitute.
After many years at this it has been my experience that nothing is a substitute for coffee. One plant, goosegrass, hmmm, Galium aparine, comes close in flavor but no caffeine. It is in the same family as coffee, oddly, and its roasted seeds are coffeesque. Add some Ilex vomitoria leaves and you might have a famine coffee substitute with caffeine. But it ain't coffee. Close, but no cigar.
Brooms, which a non-native, are usually listed as toxic.
We used to roast barley then grind it to mix with our coffee, it lowers the caffeine and greatly reduces the price of your coffee.
My parents roasted barley during the Great Depression as a coffee substitute.
Today we buy roasted barley at the grocery store. Mix it 50/50 with coffee grounds. It costs $1.29/pound.
We have been growing mint for years, which we harvest and dry. We use mint in our teas and many cooking recipes.
This year we planted chamomile and tea-trees. So we hope to produce them both in the future.
Tyler Ludens wrote:Oh shucks. It looks like Yaupon may only be marginally hardy in your area - maybe could be planted in a warm spot? http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/ILEVOMA.pdf
Tyler Ludens wrote:Yaupon Holly Ilex vomitoria should grow there. https://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_ilvo.pdf