Best caffeine free hot drinks?

[Hermioninny]

As much as I’m delighted to be pregnant the timing is terrible for cosy autumn hot drinks! I’m a big TH French Vanilla fan at weekends and generally drink a lot of tea/coffee. Any recommendations for decaf hot drinks that don’t taste of the ‘rose lemonade’ I tried to make in the garden age 4?

I switched to decaf on most of my normal drinks. Decaf yorkshire tea bags and twinings earl grey, most places can rustle up a decent decaf coffee. Rooibus and vanilla is quite nice if going totally caffiene free. I really liked ginger tea for helping with the nausea.

I just ask for decaf if out and about! Can’t even taste the difference

Hot Vimto!

Herbal tea, but have a google about which ones are safe in pregnancy. Avoid raspberry leaf.

NHS advises you can have caffeine, but no more than 200mg per day so I’ve been limiting myself to one coffee. Otherwise hot chocolate which still has some caffeine but much less

I've switched to decaf coffee. Some brands are better than others, and I try to look for the Swiss water method which doesn't use solvents. With decaf it's more true than with normal coffee that pricier products are noticeably better unfortunately.

I drink Aldi or Sainsbury's decaf coffee at home and at work, and only have caffeinated coffee when I drink out.

I don't like tea, and have struggled to find an alternative hot drink to coffee, which I don't want to drink all day. Currently, lemon and ginger tea is hitting the spot.

Thanks for all the ideas. Decaf is a bit of a no go in the office as it’ll be really obvious and it’s early days so I haven’t told anyone yet. I’m going to try some herbal teas if I can find one I like.

@Hermioninny

Thanks for all the ideas. Decaf is a bit of a no go in the office as it’ll be really obvious and it’s early days so I haven’t told anyone yet. I’m going to try some herbal teas if I can find one I like.

I take a flask with me in the morning and don't drink any in the day, no one knows it's decaf in my flask!

You could just say you've had some trouble sleeping and want to see if going decaf would help. There are many other reasons than pregnancy to drink decaf, it wouldn't even cross my mind personally to suspect pregnancy if someone is cutting out caffeine.

for me my go to's have been horlicks or hot choc like options or cadbury highlights. I would drink a hot choc every now and then in the office so no one batted an eyelid when I started consuming more of that haha

@Hermioninny

Thanks for all the ideas. Decaf is a bit of a no go in the office as it’ll be really obvious and it’s early days so I haven’t told anyone yet. I’m going to try some herbal teas if I can find one I like.

I used to take my own decaf pg tips bags to work in an unmarked bag. Excuse was that I didn't like the tea bags they supplied.

Redbush tea

A chai, matcha or turmeric latte are what I was ordering to stop it being obvious that I was avoiding caffeine in early pregnancy :) I’m a big fan of the chai in particular but find matcha or turmeric a bit better on particularly warm days.

I also have been known to sneak in decaf teabags at work - just have to decline others making drinks for you! Some brands are much better, I really didn't like tetley's decaf but pg tips was much better as was some I found on holiday and haven't seen anywhere other than Cornwall! Haven't found a decaf coffee I really like, if anyone has any recommendations though??

I only like certain herbal teas like peppermint but they can be easier to get away with at work too, less obvious than decaf somehow. And rather boringly I've got used to plain hot water too (with our without a slice of lemon), quite look forward to it now

Yorkshire decaf is the best I’ve found

I agree with PP that it's not unusual for people to limit caffeine intake, it would never occur to me that someone was pregnant just because they were doing that. And even if I did think about it, it's not like I'd be asking them or anything anyway!

I still drink caffeine anyway, usually one tea and one coffee a day, sometimes less and very occasionally a little more. Plus I eat some chocolate most days too tbh. In between I drink decaff tea and coffee at home (Ringtons) but Ive always done this anyway as am very caffeine intolerant so have always kept my caffeine levels fairly low. If I know I'm going out and might like a caffeineted drink I try to 'save' my caffeine allowance for that, but most places do decaf versions of everything these days anyway. I also drink peppermint tea and on an evening I will drink sleepy tea infusions (Pukka or Twinings), but I always did this anyway too.

Decaf Yorkshire tea. Tastes exactly the same. I’m drinking some now!

I really like Rooibos tea!

Terry’s choc Orange hot chocolate!

Hot apple cider! Not the alcoholic type, its like mulled apple juice. Its popular in North America, but less so here, its gorgeous!

If you read (which I would recommend doing) Emily Oster's book 'Expecting Better' then 2-3 cups of coffee a day isn't harmful according to the many studies that have been done. So you could still partake at work with a herbal tea thrown in and no-one would be any the wiser.

@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee this sounds right up my street, where do you get yours? I love autumn/winter “specials”.

I suppose I might be over thinking the decaf at work but we’re a very close office, all women and very nosey too

Lots of fab ideas though, I’d never have thought of Horlicks or even plain hot water. I’ll give that book a look too @loulamay thanks.

There is a fantastic caffeine free coffee substitute called Whole Earth that I buy in Holland and Barrett. I honestly can’t tell the difference.

shop.wholeearthfoods.com/products/whole-earth-organic-nocaf-100-g