I have been thinking of giving up coffee for a while – it’s after all a narcotic beverage. But I haven’t come up with a non-stimulating, non-sedating sattvic alternative I can have in the morning (Hot water/milk/tea/chocolate/decaf ruled out).
Coffee’s a new fad right? I mean, what did people in the Vedic ages drink? Perhaps Panchagavya, made from five products of a cow: dung, urine, milk, yogurt and ghee, was the in-thing at those times. There were perhaps local Cowbucks stores where various flavoured Panchagavya drinks were sold. Teenagers would hang out there drinking this stuff saying “this totally rocks dude” in Sanskrit…
When I posted this on my organization's bulletin board, I received several suggestions on how I could wean myself from coffee. Here are the suggested alternatives:
- Hot / Cold Badam milk
- A combination of the following: Milk, Squashed banana, Honey, Dried mango pulp, Jaggery
- Warm water + Honey + Lime Juice + 1 or 2 Tulsi leaves
- Hot lemon tea
- Vedic Coffee at the ISKCON Café
- Alternatives to coffee available at Swadeshi Aandolana (Aazaadi Bachao) stores
I did try a Horlicks+Protinules combo for a week or so, but soon switched back to coffee... now I've got to try out the suggestions above.
Btw, sometime back, when I was at a local temple, they were handing out prasadam that looked like Panchamruta (which is a mixture of milk, honey, ghee, yogurt and sugar), which I happily gulped down. Only after that we were told that the stuff we'd just had was Panchagavya - yikes! Now I know what BS (or CS in this case) tastes like ;)
I wonder how they prepared this concoction. I mean, 4 of the 5 ingredients are generally easy to obtain. But how do you make a cow pee on demand? I guess there's a designated pee-gatherer who's job is to wait and watch the cow's tail. At the first signs of it lifting, he would rush in with his pitcher...
5 comments:
Typically that must've been the case...not offlate tho...with the rate of urbanisation scaling greater heights......dont quite feel neone waiting for the tail-raiser hahahhah ....hey Wats CS/BS ???
Good luck in your decaffeination journey. I would say go with green tea...it is going to be the next fad and you would want to be there leading the stage. BTW, would love to know how to say "this totally rocks dude" in sanskrit ;-)
CS/BS? If you don't know, you shouldn't know ;)
Ah green tea. Has a weird taste. I tried the stuff while I was in Japan. Quite popular there, especially among women: don't quote me on this, but I heard that green tea is the secret of their petite figures :)
Dont know if this would count as a sattvic alternative - it did work in my case though - Lime Tea.
I make Lime Tea rather light, using less than half a spoon of tea leaves for a large mug of tea. Dont boil the leaves, just soak them in hot water for a couple of minutes and drain them off. Add a few drops of lemon juice and see the brew taking the colors of sunrise. If indulgence takes the better of you, drop a dollop of honey into the mug. That's it !
Tea, in general, has it's joys - all of them subtle. Green is not my cuppa, but tea with just the right amount of spices is divine. No, I dont mean the typical over-boiled and exaggerated masala chai. A minimalist version can be truly uplifting. The western alternative with fruit flavors can be quite welcoming too. Dont know if they are readily available in India, though.
Cheers !
Hi! Thanks for your suggestion - Lime Tea sounds interesting - you've created a beautiful picture. Gotta try this out.
Btw, you write very well! :)
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