Over the past 6 years the price of coffee has doubled. I felt that every morning when I made my cup of coffee. The changing climate has made it more difficult to grow coffee and the unpredictable trade habits of the world made my morning cup that much more expensive.

So I set out to find an alternative. What I wasn’t expecting was an alternative to be in my “backyard”.

Yaupon Holly is the only native plant in the United States to contain caffeine and it grows very well in the Southeastern United States. Often times it is used as an ornamental plant or shrub for its evergreen leaves and hardy resilience.

Yaupon tea has been used by native and indigenous peoples of the Americas for centuries. Even early settlers from Europe used this drink.

Yaupon has less caffeine than coffee but offers other benefits such as a smooth caffeine ride with no crash thanks to other chemicals found in the plant such as theobromine and theacrine. Also, the lack of strong tannins allows the tea to brew or steep for much longer periods without producing bitterness.

But I quickly found that there was something missing from this, if I was going to replace my morning cup of coffee with Yaupon tea. So I turned to another staple in the quest for a coffee alternative.

Chicory!

Chicory has traditionally been used as a coffee alternative. It is a nativized plant that is found all over the United States. Those blueish/purple flowers you see on the side of the highway…Chicory!

The root is chopped and roasted and the flavor is more fruity and nutty than coffee but still elicits a similar visual and olfactory sense to coffee.

Finding the right ratio yielded a cup of something magical. There was enough caffeine to get me through the day with no crash and an aroma and taste that made me not miss my morning cup of coffee.

I decided that if I could enjoy this change then others should as well. Chatteanooga was created with the goal to share this alternative to coffee with others. Everything is sourced from the USA and certified organic through the growers. The nature of both plants make them resistant to changing climates and sustainable to grow.

This coffee alternative also costs considerably less per cup than your average cup of coffee.

So give our coffee alternative a try. I think you’ll like it.