Dandelion coffee is nothing like coffee, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good.

I think my roots were just a little over-roasted, a little dark. I added a couple of cardamon pods and some cinnamon to help the flavor. Boiled everything in about 2-2 1/2 cups of water for 20 minutes, then removed from the heat, strained out the solids and let it cool down enough to drink. I prefer my coffee cool or cold with a little whole milk, so that’s how I tried the dandelion not-coffee.

And I – well. I honestly hadn’t actually expected to like this. I was expecting something overpoweringly bitter and green, or burnt and charred and blackened.

I was happily surprised.

(Relatively frequent happily-surprised-ness is like the only upshot of being stubbornly pessimistic all the time.)

Between the additional spices and the whole milk, dandelion not-coffee has a smooth and creamy consistency and a flavor that’s almost sweet. I think because of the spices I selected, my not-coffee was especially reminiscent of chai tea.

NB: a little bit of cardamon goes a long way.

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The dandelion roots contributed some darker, smoke-like notes, almost like coffee; I think that’s what sets this beverage apart from the tea that I’m used to drinking.

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Also, there’s a residual echo that tastes like – well, dandelions. That dirt-bitter greenness. It’s faint, it’s buried somewhere in the aftertaste, but it’s definitely there.

This was a relatively labor intensive cup of not-coffee. It took a moderate investment of time and work, but didn’t cost any money. It helped to get some weeds out of the strawberry patch. It was fun to try something new. And the end result was actually quite good; I would drink this. I like how this came out.

Cheers.

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