Is it Coffee? No, it is Teeccino!

Being part Italian I love my double shots of espresso. Anyone that knows me will tell you I love espresso a little too much. I had to have an Italian semi-automatic coffee maker in my office so I can get my espresso fix at a moments notice. That should have been a sign to me that I was out of control.

It wasn’t until I read that caffeine is implicated in the mutation of DNA that I decided to cut way down on espresso. Well, I am one of those all or nothing people so I quickly decided to go cold turkey on espresso since cutting back wasn’t exactly in my vocabulary. Other than an occasional coffee while out at dinner I haven’t had a cup of coffee in over six months.

Even at home, occasionally I really want a cup of coffee. I love the flavor, the aroma, and the experience of sipping a cup of coffee. When I am having one of those moments I turn to teeccino. Haven’t heard of teeccino? Neither had I until about two years ago. I read about it in a magazine but had never seen it in the grocery stores. A month of so later I noticed it at our local Wegman’s and grabbed a container. The taste is like a very mild cup of coffee without the bitter back notes I love. It is so mild you can drink it black. I have given it to friends that don’t like coffee, and they have enjoyed it.

I have only brewed the teeccino in my French press so I can’t tell you how it works in a coffee maker or espresso machine, but according to the packaging it works.

According to the ingredient label teeccino contains the following: roasted carob, barley, chicory root, dates, orange peel, almonds and figs. Needless to say when I saw the ingredient label I was ready to try it based on the ingredients alone.

If you are trying to kick the caffeine habit but love the taste of coffee this is a reasonable approximation. I don’t drink it often, because I am afraid of going back to espresso, but every once in a while a few cups of teeccino just hits the spot.