Alternatives to milk in coffee

[velosam]

I am trying to do intermittent fasting.

Part of that is not having milk in my tea/ coffee in the morning. I do enjoy having a hot drink, don't like herbal tea and the black tea/ coffee leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Are there any alternatives to try or should I just HTFU and get used to the taste?

[PaulF]

Cognac?

Or use skimmed milk? There are so few calories in the amount that you put in a cup of coffee I doubt that it will impact your fasting

[Veloman]

I had good reason to dispense of dairy products and simply went black coffee route and very weak Earl Grey with no milk or lemon.  What I do find is that different coffees and shops serve coffee that has different after tastes so experimentation required.  So my taste preference would put Nero above Starbucks as an example, and local garden centre does far better coffee than both and much better than my favourite local cafe, so as with most things in life, compromise is required.  Having drinks without the need for milk or sugar is also great when traveling, camping, mountaineering etc.  Try drinks without the stuff that takes away the taste of the drink!

[mrcharly-YHT]

I'd just quit the stuff. It won't take long before you don't miss it. Just a couple of weeks.

I dumped dairy for medical reasons (I used to be the sort of person who ate butter by the slab, would drink cream, etc). It was less than a month before I thoroughly disliked even the smell of milk. Now I actually prefer the taste of soya milk with cereal to dairy.

[Jaded]

I tried almond milk and didn't like it. Now I'm using Oat milk.

[hellymedic]

Almond and soya 'milk' would still break any fast.

You could just drink hot water...

[velosam]

Thanks all. I do drink hot water, but maybe I should just stick to it.

[mattc]

Cognac?

Or use skimmed milk? There are so few calories in the amount that you put in a cup of coffee I doubt that it will impact your fasting

    Sadly there are loads of ("bad") calories in most boozahols!

Skimmed milk isn't ideal, as the calories remaining are mostly sugar, with the fat taken away; this is the exact opposite of the kind of nutrition that most fasters are aiming for. (I believe.)

My suggestion is to find hot drinks that are tasty without milk. What I've found palatable is;
- very very weak black tea
- black coffee (not great to be honest)
- green tea. This is a completely different animal to black tea! Give it a chance, you will probably like it once you stop expecting "proper" tea
- peppermint tea, lemon/ginger, other ... there are loads of flavours, you're bound to like one of them.

Anyway, that works for me. I can enjoy green tea, decaf milky tea, "proper" tea ... all in the same day.

[Chris S]

Green Tea on its own tastes like hedges, but with Lemon is much more palatable.

When I'm fasting I just do black coffee, green tea with lemon, or water.

[velosam]

I need to try green tea which I do have with Chinese food.  I tried bikboc- a red tea and some mulled wine 'tea' but neither were really that great.

[trekker12]

Fresh ground black coffee is much less bitter than instant black coffee. There's also differing strength levels and bean types where instant coffee might be a blend of anything!

Stick it in a cafetierre and it's as quick as instant and tastes much nicer.

[citoyen]

Why not try a good Darjeeling - I usually drink my tea strong with milk (English Breakfast or Assam), but Darjeeling is a more delicate flavour and best without milk. There are plenty of other teas that are good without milk - not just generic 'green' tea. I do like a nice Oolong or Lapsang Souchong - they're both very different in flavour to regular British teabag tea but still recognisably 'tea' (Lapsang Souchong is smoked, which gives it a very distinct flavour).

You could also make your hot water more interesting by adding a few slices of root ginger and lemon - this is what I have for my afternoon drink since I've given up post-midday caffeine.

I'm not a fan of most herbal teas. Rooibos is OK but no substitute for real tea.

[LEE]

Have you tried milk in Tea as an alternative?

[geraldc]

Look into using full fat cream in your coffee. It goes against the calories in/out principal, but a lot claim it aids weight loss. Just cream, no sugar though.

[orienteer]

I use Elmlea single cream, actually a blend of buttermilk and vegetable oil, mainly because it keeps so much better than real cream.

[SteveC]

For drinking coffee black, buy better coffee.
For drinking tea black, adding a very small amount of lemon will take the bitterness away without affecting the flavour.
If you add the juice drop by drop, all of a sudden you will see the liquid get clearer. That is the tannins chelating with the lemon juice. Tannins are what makes the tea bitter so stop adding there and enjoy.


Or, keep trying you will eventually get used to it!

[Jakob]

Embrace your inner hipster and get one of these
http://www.chemexcoffeemaker.com/coffeemakers/classic-series.html
Buy some half decent beans and this will make a seriously smooth, non-bitter cup of coffee.
 We've always bought decent coffee and have been grinding our own beans for years (mostly because it's cheaper that way!), but this was a real revelation.

[L CC]

Hot water is my default hot drink. I'm such a cheap date.

[Paul H]

I like decent coffee but not very strong in the morning and redbush in a pint glass in the evening, just water the rest of the day.  Took me a while to break the milk habit, but glad I did, the cheese habit if proving more difficult.
Good luck with the diet, I lost some weight with it last year.  If you can't find a replacement you like for the milky drinks, can't you just include them in whatever calories you're planning?

[Biggsy]

I've had a brainstorm.  How about a drop of lactulose in your coffee?  It's sweet, the name reminds you of lactose and therefore milk, it's practically calorie free, and it makes you fast.

(to the bog)

[Chinaski]

I am trying to do intermittent fasting.

Part of that is not having milk in my tea/ coffee in the morning. I do enjoy having a hot drink, don't like herbal tea and the black tea/ coffee leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Are there any alternatives to try or should I just HTFU and get used to the taste?

I intermittent fast most days (for convenience/fat adaptation not weight loss) and wouldn't worry about the 10-15 calories in your coffee.

Have water handy before lunch, it'll help with your body's call for food.

The biggest adaptation is in your head and getting past the social norm of having a breakfast, "most important meal of the day" and all that.

Top tip, eat well when you eat and have it planned

[Wowbagger]

Since early November I have cut out nearly all dairy. For tea & coffee I use soya milk - the unsweetened stuff. I prefer it to drinking black tea & coffee.

[TheLurker]

For drinking coffee black, buy better coffee. ...

+1

Drinking unsweetened black coffee is a good way to discover that _good_ coffee needs neither milk nor sugar.  All sorts of flavours come out that would otherwise be masked.   Unfortunately a lot of the muck that's sold as coffee is undrinkable unless it is disguised.  National Trust coffee is particularly bad.

And don't think of instant coffee as coffee, just treat it as a hot black drink to keep your fluid levels up when you don't want plain old water.

[Bledlow]

Now I actually prefer the taste of soya milk with cereal to dairy.

The horror! (Shudders).

I've never tasted soya milk. I can't get close enough, because the smell drives me away.

[Torslanda]

I've had a brainstorm.  How about a drop of lactulose in your coffee?  It's sweet, the name reminds you of lactose and therefore milk, it's practically calorie free, and it makes you fast.

(to the bog)

Picolax?

But only take while you are actually sitting on the bog...