Claire Whitley | Crumbs
It isn’t college without coffee, or at least this is the common ideology. Caffeine gets college students through their day better than their diploma or job waiting for them at the end of the tunnel.
With Starbucks next to the VandalStore and Einstein’s in the Idaho Commons, it can be hard to stick to non-coffee resolutions. Sure, those places offer other options like teas and smoothies, but they are famous for their coffee, and who doesn’t want a Cookie Crumble Frappuccino?
The problem is, while black coffee has recently been shown to be moderately healthy, the mochas, cappuccinos and other fluffy coffee drinks are not. However, there are some coffee alternatives that can be made at home, in a dorm room or a Greek house microwave.
Tea
All it takes is water and heat, plus a few minutes of waiting for the tea to steep. However, as a recovering coffee-holic, it can be hard to avoid using the coffeepot for its intended purpose. A quick solution to this is buying an electric kettle or a stove-top kettle, or just throwing out all the coffee in the cupboards and be cursed at by your roommates.
Of all the teas in the known world, the kind most akin to coffee as far as caffeine content is green tea. Thankfully, there are combinations of green tea for people who don’t like green tea flavor.
An extra potent combination would be ginseng green tea since ginseng is known to be a stimulant like caffeine. Other more tasty combinations include chai, ginger and lemongrass. It is also possible to buy loose leaf tea and combine any kind of tea imaginable to suit personal tastes.
For those iced coffee lovers, it is super simple to make any kind of tea iced tea. All you have to do is brew the tea and let it refrigerate for a few hours before adding ice. It may not be as immediate or satisfying as buying a $5 frappe from McDonald’s, but it will save money and is healthier in the long term.
Similar tea that may be more tasteful to people is white tea. It is similar in caffeine content to black tea, except it has more antioxidants. One combination with white tea is dried orange, rose hip and cranberry. It makes for a delicious fruit tea that wakes up the senses.
For anyone interested in breaking into the tea world, it would be beneficial to invest in either a teapot with a strainer in it or a metal tea infuser. It acts like a teabag, but is reusable and specifically meant for loose leaf teas.
Healthy energy
Red Bull seems to be the favorite for college students’ energy after the suitable time for coffee drinking has passed, if there is such a thing. However, like it or not, energy drinks are rarely healthy for the consumer.
A few substitutions for a Red Bull can be found in just about any convenience store in Moscow. Starbucks refreshers are one energy drink that is actually okay for the body. It is made from green coffee extract, which is much healthier than black coffee. There are a lot of sugars and things in these refreshers, but compared to their alternatives, they are much healthier. Another simple energy drink is V8-VFusion Energy. Those actually use green tea as the energizer.
A quick walk through the Moscow Co-op will also throw out several healthier alternatives. There are several drinks with chia seeds in them which are like little bursts of energy and nutrients and there is a whole cooler full of iced teas which cost about half of a coffee at Starbucks.
It is also possible, and very simple, to make homemade energy drinks. Green tea, cranberry juice, lime and ginseng extract can easily be combined to make energy drinks for the go.
For recovering coffee-holics, finding the right source of energy to finish the rest of the semester is hard, but easy substitutions are not hard to find. It just takes a little effort and a lot of self control.
Claire Whitley can be reached at [email protected]