I gave up caffeine about 10 years ago. I still enjoy it in
chocolate. But I am a decaf girl now. I am too high strung as it is. It wasn't
good for my insomnia or stomach. So my morning cup now is usually herbal tea.
Not many sodas survived the cut either. It took a while to find a list of
acceptable substitutes.
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So I drink a lot of sparkling mineral water (topo chico,
pellegrino, perrier, la croix), herbal tea (white tea, mint, chamomile,
valerian, red rooibos, honeybush, ginseng, ginger, chrysanthemum, tamarind,
hibiscus, acai berry, jasmine, lavender, licorice, raspberry, lemon, apple,
peach, black currant), , Oolong has light caffeine, but green tea is often
stimulating. Read the labels, often
fruit flavored teas from certain brands are merely flavored orange pekoe or
regular caffeinated black tea. Make sure
your fruit teas are free of black or pekoe.
Sodas (ginger ale, ginger beer, 7up, sprite, sierra mist, squirt,
vernors). Some fruit sodas, cream sodas
& root beers but not all brands (ok - fanta, crush, a&w, ibc, mug,
welch's, ; not ok- nehi, sunkist, dads, barq's, a&w cream soda).
The big 3 soda brands & coffee companies make
caffeine-free decaf versions of their most popular drinks, but they do not
taste anything remotely like the originals so I don't even bother with the
"brown sodas" or coffee anymore. But if you are a soda drinker, I
must emphasize reading labels (especially with root beers & cream soda,
because caffeine frequently pops up in certain brands, however they are pretty
reliable go-tos). I don't really drink sodas much since the change, but i still
enjoy bubbles in cocktails.
Standard caffeine-free mixers involve juices, lemon/lime
sodas or ginger ale since they usually mix well with anything. My favorite 3 caffeine free, soda cocktails
include: (1) moscow mule – ginger beer
with vodka and fresh mint (2) root beer with either pernod or absinthe (3)
vanilla vodka with cream soda super hard
to find out & about because its rare that a restaurant or bar offers caffeine
free sodas.
People that knew me in college remember a lot of espresso
& caffeine fueled mornings. So this
change & the above list did not come quickly or easily. I tested allllll the mineral/soda/tonic waters
till I found a good one. Read all the labels
for ten years trying to find things that my old body could tolerate.