I no longer really drink coffee.
Weird, I know. Because I used to need it…and now even the thought of it makes me a little nauseated. Now, I’m not one who believes that quitting coffee is a mark of virtue – as vices go, caffeine isn’t one that even registers on my personal scale. I didn’t even want to stop drinking it. I just woke up one day with different body chemistry, and there you go.
During the summer months I developed some very poor bed-rotting habits (all three of us like to sleep late, so we’re a poor influence on each other). But as of today we are up! and! at em! at 6:30, and a hot drink of some sort can be a powerful motivator. Enter: This drink, which I discovered years ago when I was staying over at Francesca’s house and she was all “let me make you this amaaaaaazing drink with unsweetened cacao powder and raw honey!” and I was all “no, I need you to give me my caffeine and stop trying to make me a person who ingests things like unsweetened cacao powder and raw honey.”
But then I – reluctantly, obviously – tried it anyway, and it instantly entered my personal repertoire. Mostly because it is truly delicious: It’s lightly sweet without being cloying, but still has a little bite to it that’s reminiscent of coffee. And dare I say, it gives me more energy than coffee (!), but a kind of…clean energy, with zero jitters. And it also makes my stomach all calm and settled (which coffee, bless its heart, does not). And it does all these things for hours before I feel the need to make another cup.
You should try it.
How To Make It:*
In a mug, combine 1 tbsp cacao powder (you can find it at most supermarkets; I buy mine at Trader Joe’s) and 1 tsp raw organic honey with 6-8 oz hot water. Mix until the honey dissolves, then top with a splash of cream or the milk of your choice (coconut milk is especially good). Gloat silently every time you see a colleague drinking coffee, because you know what you are drinking? SOMETHING BETTER.
*The proportions you see here are just how I like *mine* – you can always up the honey and cream if you like your beverages a little lighter and sweeter.
