I'm one of those people who start the day with a cup of coffee and then keep on drinking it until the end of the day. Sometimes that's not the best practice to keep, all coffee lovers know the feeling of not being able to fall asleep when you had your last cup two hours before bed. I have to admit that I used to think that caffeine affecting your sleep pattern was only a myth. Still, recently I noticed it really makes it hard for me to fall asleep, or even causes my sleep to become lighter, when I drink too much coffee. Of course, you can opt for caffeine free coffee, but to me it defies the purpose of a nice cup when the caffeine is out of the equation. So what should you do when you crave more coffee, but it's late in the evening or you had too much already?

The best option, in my opinion, is to switch to drinking chicory. If you never heard of it before, chicory is a plant with beautiful blue flowers, native to Europe, but later naturalized all over the world. Root of the plant is baked and grinded until it becomes a brown powder looking similar to grinded coffee (as you can see in the photos). Drink made of chicory is very delicious, I love drinking it. It's more bitter than coffee and it has a nice, unusual flavor. It is completely caffeine free and besides that, chicory is great for you. It's a natural sedative (great for having before going to bed), helps with digestion, prevents hart burn, detoxifies liver, reduces the chance of heart diseases, helps fight bacterial infections... I like to drink it with a bit off milk because it's very bitter on its own, and milk also adds a nice touch to the flavour. 

Here's the recipe:

Mix one (or two) tea spoons of chicory with one cup of cold water. Put it on a stove and cook until it boils. Leave it to cool for a bit, pour into a cup and add milk to your taste.




Ja sam od onih ljudi koji ne mogu da zamisle početak dana bez šolje kafe i onda nastavljaju da je piju do kraja dana. Ponekad ovo nije najbolja praksa, svi koji vole kafu znaju onaj osećaj kada ne mogu da zaspe jer su popili poslednju šolju dva sata pred spavanje. Moram da priznam da sam ranije mislila da kofein ne utiče toliko na obrazac spavanja, već da je to samo mit. Ipak, u poslednje vreme sam primetila da mi je teže da zaspim ili čak da mi je san manje dubok kada pijem previše kafe. Naravno, možete da pijete i onu bez kofeina, ali meni nekako pokvari poentu lepe šolje kafe kada je kofein izuzet iz jednačine. Pa šta onda raditi kada želite još kafe, ali je kasno uveče ili ste već popili previše u toku dana?

Najbolja opcija je, po mom mišljenju, cikorija. Ako nikada niste čuli za cikoriju, to je biljka sa prelepim plavim cvetovima, autohtona je vrsta u Evropi, ali se danas gaji skoro u celom svetu. Koren biljke se peče i melje dok ne postane braon prah nalik na samlevenu kafu (kao što vidite na fotografijama). Piće koje se pravi od cikorije jako je ukusno, obožavam da ga pijem. Gorča je od kafe i ima lep, neobičan ukus. Uopšte ne sadrži kofein i, pored toga, jako je zdrava. Prirodni je sedativ (pa je sjajno piti je pred spavanje), reguliše varenje, sprečava gorušicu, čisti jetru, smanjuje rizik od srčanih bolesti, pomaže u borbi protiv bakterijskih infekcija... Ja volim da je pijem sa malo mleka, jer je inače veoma gorka, a mleko joj daje još lepši ukus. Cikoriju možete da kupite u skoro svakoj prodavnici zdrave hrane.

Ovo je recept:

Pomešajte jednu kafenu kašičicu (ili dve) cikorije sa jednom šoljom hladne vode. Kuvajte dok ne proključa i ostavite da se prohladi. Dodajte mleko po ukusu.