Coffee substitute

During the American Civil War coffee was also scarce in the Southern United States:[1] For the stimulating property to which both tea and coffee owe their chief value, there is unfortunately no substitute; the best we can do is to dilute the little stocks which still remain, and cheat the palate, if we cannot deceive the nerves.Things like rye and ground sweet potato were some of the most popular substitutes at this time.

Some ingredients used include almond, acorn, asparagus, malted barley, beechnut, beetroot, carrot, chicory root, corn, soybeans, cottonseed, dandelion root (see dandelion coffee), fig, roasted garbanzo beans,[5] lupinus, boiled-down molasses, okra seed, pea, persimmon seed, potato peel,[6] rye, sassafras pits, sweet potato, wheat bran.

[8] In Quebec, the seeds of the black locust were historically used as a coffee substitute, before the stem borer decimated populations of the tree.

It reached its height of popularity in the United States during World War II when coffee was sharply rationed.

In 2021, media outlets reported that the world's first synthetic coffee products have been created by two biotechnology companies, still awaiting regulatory approvals for near-term commercialization.

[15] Earlier, in 2019, molecular coffee, made from undisclosed plant-based materials and caffeine, was demonstrated after being developed by an American company, Atomo.