While coffee might be the go-to morning drink for many people, others choose not to drink it for various reasons.
For some people, the high amount of caffeine can cause jitters, nervousness, and agitation — for others, it’s not enough to get them through the day.
In addition, coffee can cause headaches and digestive stress for some, and others simply don’t like the taste or are bored of their routine and looking for an alternative.
No matter your reason, we’ve got you covered.
Try these ten best coffee alternatives to find natural energy.
Related: Best Drinks for Focus
1. Breinfuel
One of the best coffee alternatives for natural energy, Breinfuel is packed with ingredients to energize your body, fuel your mind, and support your brain.
The blend of green coffee bean extract, natural caffeine, and green tea extract amounts to a healthy coffee alternative that offers 360 mg of caffeine per serving — enough to keep you going through anything.
Breinfuel’s MCT oil offers slow-release energy to sustain you all day, D-ribose helps for quick energy boosts, and collagen is a great source of protein to support your brain and metabolism.
In addition, the antioxidant blend of beetroot, vitamin C, and vitamin E support the brain’s response to caffeine through their antioxidant effects.
Not to mention the brain boosters of Breinfuel, including glycine, L-theanine, creatine, and zinc, to provide energy, boost your immune system, and support your brain throughout the day.
Breinfuel is a natural coffee alternative to get all-day-long energy, increase your focus and attention, sustain alertness throughout the day, and stay energized no matter what life throws at you.
Looking for a new way to get natural energy? Try Breinfuel risk-free and enjoy all-day energy without the crash.
2. Matcha
We know what you’re thinking — how are you supposed to give up your morning coffee and still function on the days when you really need that extra energy boost? Well, we’re glad you asked.
Matcha is a more nutrient-dense type of traditional green tea with a ton of antioxidants. With regular green tea, the nutrients come from the water after the leaves steep in it. However, with matcha, you drink the crushed-up leaves, too, after mixing them into the hot liquid.
Matcha tea has more caffeine than regular green tea, but it has slightly less than most coffee — an eight-ounce serving of matcha tea has around 70 mg of caffeine, while the same size cup of coffee typically has closer to 100 mg.
Caffeine and antioxidants aside, matcha also contains a compound called I-theanine, which helps your body absorb caffeine slower, leading to fewer people experiencing a “caffeine crash.”
In addition, matcha is extremely versatile: you can use it to make smoothies, lattes, cookies, and even for skin care. When shopping for matcha, ensure that the one you pick is 100% pure green tea powder.
3. Dandelion Coffee
So you overslept, and there’s no time to wait for your morning coffee to brew. You need a serious energy boost, and you need it fast. Sound familiar?
It happens to all of us, and dandelion coffee can be the perfect caffeine-free solution for those mornings when you’re on the go or need to minimize your morning routine to squeeze in a few more minutes of shut-eye.
Dandelion coffee is mildly sweet and has a rich flavor that comes from roasted dandelion roots. In addition, it’s often blended with ingredients like beets, chicory root, and barley rye, which all dissolve into hot and cold liquids — it’s like instant coffee, but better.
Roasted dandelion roots are rich in vitamins, minerals, probiotics, antibiotics, and phytonutrients — its health benefits are quite impressive. It also has a similar taste to full-bodied coffee; however, it doesn’t have the bitterness or acidity.
Instead of caffeine, dandelion coffee helps boost energy because of its trace minerals that can help support the body’s adrenal functions.
4. Masala Chai
First, let’s talk about the word chai and the common misconception surrounding it — chai means “tea” in Hindi. Saying chai tea is like saying tea tea. On the other hand, masala chai means spiced tea, which makes for a great coffee alternative to find natural energy.
Masala chai is a full-bodied black tea with a strong flavor, and it’s usually combined with hot milk. Its unique flavor comes from various spices, including cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger; however, different varieties combine different spices.
Like most black tea, it’s also quite caffeinated, with levels similar (albeit slightly lower) than a traditional cup of coffee.
Besides the perfect morning energy boost, masala chai may also help minimize nausea, lower blood sugar levels, improve digestion, enhance heart health, and aid in weight loss.
And if you want to save some money, you can make masala chai at home extremely easily by using masala concentrate and some milk.
Because masala chai comes in so many varieties, it shouldn’t be a challenge to find the right blend of spices to hit the spot for you.
5. Capomo Coffee
Capomo is also called the Maya tree nut — a seed harvested from capomo trees and found natively in the rainforests of the Caribbean, Mexico, and Latin America.
The Maya tree nut is naturally caffeine-free, packed full of potassium, iron, calcium, fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins, containing no alkaloids. Capomo is known to help keep blood sugar levels in check while promoting serotonin production and cognitive function.
If that’s not impressive enough for a coffee alternative, it also provides 19/20 of the body’s essential amino acids — which help stimulate antibodies, build muscles, repair cells, fight bacteria and viruses, carry oxygen, etc. — and is rich in anti-inflammatory compounds.
In addition to the energy and health benefits of this coffee alternative, you can find capomo coffee in a variety of flavors, like classic coffee, caramel, hazelnut, etc. It’s hard to beat the flavors of this natural energy booster.
Related: 5 Benefits of Drinking Collagen
6. Brewed Cacao
If you’re a chocolate lover who can’t stop drinking mocha-flavored coffee and want to switch to a coffee alternative, brewed cacao might be the solution (don’t confuse it with cocoa!).
It’s like hot (or iced) chocolate that will give you a serious energy boost with some additional health benefits. And you won’t have to give up your regular morning routine, either — you can make brewed cacao like a regular cup of coffee (without the bitterness), and it will make your kitchen smell great, too!
You can thank theobromine for the energy boost found in brewed cacao; it’s a naturally occurring compound in cacao that acts as a stimulant. Unlike coffee, which restricts blood vessels, theobromine expands them, typically lasts longer than caffeine, and doesn’t activate your central nervous system.
Brewed cacao has an added bonus, too: It’s full of antioxidants, phenylethylamine, and magnesium, in addition to providing a natural energy boost.
7. Yerba Mate
You’re likely familiar with yerba mate (sometimes labeled “mate”) based on how common it is to find lining the shelves of health-food stores nationwide. If you’ve never tried yerba mate drinks before, we’ll fill you in on why this traditional beverage has risen in popularity so quickly.
It comes from evergreen tree leaves, giving it a tea-like flavor, and has naturally occurring theobromine, theophylline, and caffeine (although slightly less than you’ll find in coffee).
Yerba mate is often found at stores chilled and canned; however, you can make it at home with tea bags, too. Similarly to preparing coffee, you can add milk, sugar, etc., to cut down the bittersweet flavor associated with the drink.
Yerba mate also contains polyphenols like coffee — these compounds act as antioxidants, help protect against disease, and have antibacterial properties. In addition, it’s also a great option for those trying to lose weight, watching their blood sugar levels, or trying to reduce their LDL cholesterol.
So, if you don’t want to skip your morning brewing routine, you can find organic yerba mate tea leaves to brew your own mate drinks. Or, for the lazy days when you just need a boost of natural energy, you can find yerba mate drinks at most stores these days.
8. Mushroom Coffee
What if you don’t want to completely give up your coffee, but you want to pack a bunch of extra nutrients into your morning brew? The answer is mushroom coffee — and don’t knock the seemingly off flavor combination without trying it first (hint: it’s delicious!).
Depending on the brand you get, the mushroom coffee will have various energy-boosting ingredients and types of mushrooms.
Chaga mushrooms are common — they have tons of antioxidants and are an alkaline food that promotes gut health and contains over 215 phytonutrients. They also help boost your immune system, relieve stress, aid in anti-aging, improve brain function, and offer a long-lasting natural energy boost.
You can brew mushroom coffee mixes together with your regular coffee or with milk and ice. You can also fund premixed mushrooms and coffee grounds for an easy brew.
9. Brewed Chicory
Even if you switch to using a coffee alternative, it doesn’t mean you have to give up the flavor of traditional coffee in the morning. Brewed chicory tastes like regular coffee without containing caffeine or causing digestive upsets that many coffee lovers know too well.
Chicory is a prebiotic that has a high content of inulin, which is a soluble fiber that helps nourish microflora in the microbiome. This high level of inulin can help increase the good bacteria in your gut, control blood sugar levels, and may even reduce the risk of colon cancer.
In addition, brewed chicory may help improve brain health, thanks to its vitamin B6 and manganese levels.
However, since it doesn’t contain caffeine, how does brewed chicory make for a coffee alternative that provides natural energy?
One thing that makes it a convenient natural energy source is its high levels of potassium. Many chicory beverages contain lots of potassium, helping restore electrolytes and offering an energy boost without the caffeine crash.
You can find herbal chicory that you can steep like tea, brew like coffee, or prepare as an instant drink to enjoy your coffee alternative quickly and get your energy boost ASAP.
10. Barley Coffee
If you already spent your hard-earned money on an espresso machine for your home and don’t want it to go to waste or ditch the espresso altogether, barley coffee will be your new best friend.
Also called orzo coffee or caffè d’orzo, this Italian beverage is a caffeine-free alternative to coffee made out of roasted ground barley grains. Barley doesn’t have the same taste as traditional espresso (as you could probably guess); however, it has a slightly bitter, earthy taste with less richness and body than espresso.
Although the most common way to make barley coffee is with an espresso machine, you can also make it on the stovetop or with a regular coffee pot.
Other than its potassium content, barley coffee doesn’t offer many other energizing qualities like the other coffee alternatives on our list. However, in addition to the electrolyte-restoring potassium, you get the nutrients found in barley, including vitamins E and B, magnesium, and phosphorus.
Barley coffee can be a great alternative for those trying to wean off of regular coffee and switch to a caffeine-free drink for their morning routine.
Related: 5 Habits to Improve Cognitive Function
Is It Time for a Better Alternative to Get Natural Energy?
Coffee is a great way to get an energy boost in the morning, and it contains antioxidants and nutrients that are great for our bodies.
It’s a natural stimulant that can boost metabolism and mental clarity while reducing tiredness.
However, not everyone reacts well to coffee (or likes how it tastes), and for others, the typical ~100 mg of caffeine found in a cup of coffee doesn’t cut it.
Try Breinfuel or one of the other nine coffee alternatives on our list to find natural energy, improve your performance, and say goodbye to the mid-day crash.
Get the benefits of natural caffeine, antioxidants, nootropics, and more with Breinfuel — find your favorite flavor today.