I love coffee; I mean I really love the flavor of coffee. To me, it’s a ritual that I enjoy and it brings happiness to my life. What I don’t love is what coffee does to me. I find I have more cravings later in the afternoon, I am energy sensitive to caffeine and my sleep is disrupted when I drink it. I can survive weeks without coffee but then I just get the craving for it.

I drink roasted dandelion root, which has a slight coffee taste, but in my opinion it’s not the same. Then I tried Kick Start by Hormonic Arts and I kinda fell in love. The best part about this coffee substitute is it gives you a little caffeine boost from yerba mate and it HELPS balance and nourish energy centers in the body. Maca is a hormone balancing for men and women, increases libido, reduces stress, increases energy and strengthens the immune system. Can coffee do that? Hell no.

If you are unfamiliar with chaga, it is a mushroom rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phenols and an ingredient in Kick Start. These mushrooms have amazing health benefits. I consume chaga tea on it’s own and steep it as a tea to add to smoothies for it’s adaptogenic properties. It increases the bodies’ ability to deal with stress, fatigue and anxiety. Chaga is renowned for it’s anti-cancer properties, contains vitamin B, phenols, flavonoids, minerals and enzymes. Chaga has been toted as a longevity drink in Chinese medicine because of the potent ingredient SOD or superoxide dismutase. SOD has the ability to halt oxidation that is responsible for aging.

Kick Start Latte

1 heaping teaspoon of Kick Start
1 cup of boiling water

I use a French press to steep the tea for 10 minutes then push the plunger down. Pour the tea into a cup and top with almond milk. If you do not have a French press you can just allow the tea to settle to the bottom before drinking.

Join me next November 3rd to sample chaga and soak up some knowledge on anti-aging.