04 Feb 2016 Matcha is so 2015, now it’s dandelion coffee!
Now Dandelion coffee isn’t actually coffee: that’s the first thing to know about it. Although the roasted powder blend mixed with hot water or milk looks like what you’d get at Starbucks, it’s made from dandelion root, barley, rye, chicory, and beets.
The idea of mashing up these roots with other ingredients and drinking them exploded, naturally, in Los Angeles. And it has caught on across the country, at restaurants and cafes such as Chicago Raw and the Market Street Apothecary Café and Wine Bar in Austin.
Corrina Becker, owner of the organic cafe Amara Kitchen in LA, serves dandelion coffee made with Dandy Blend’s prepackaged mix (one of several available); you can get it in a homemade cashew milk latte or mocha, too.
“When I tried dandelion coffee plain, I was like, ‘Eh, it needs a little help,’ ” she says.
Erin Johnson, a server at Kitchen Mouse, a vegetarian restaurant also in LA that serves the coffee straight and in lattes, says, “Since we opened a year and a half ago, it’s gotten more and more popular. People like that it tastes similar to coffee and has that richness but doesn’t have the stimulant of caffeine.”
That’s true, but exercise caution. The vitamin B in dandelion root can help you feel more alert.
New York wellness coach Robyn Youkilis says it’s similar enough to espresso that “you might forget it’s not coffee”.
In fact, Dandy Blend’s creator, botanist Peter Gail, says customers have suggested he put a warning on the package about drinking it before bed. Youkilis says dandelion root has other benefits: It’s rich in essential minerals such as zinc, potassium, and iron, and it helps soothe stomach ailments.
Source: Bloomberg.com
Related reading:
So What Is Dandelion Coffee, Anyway? – Huffington Post
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