Coffee milkshake is a nice option along with many coffee drinks out there… coffee lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos… and the list keeps growing as coffee interest grows. ☕️
I was a late coffee bloomer if there’s such a thing… starting a morning routine decades into life.
It was a bitter acquired taste to my younger self.
But I realized after some years into the happy habit, around the 7-year switch (like allergy changes), that my gut couldn’t keep up with my cup o’ java demand… so I switched to homemade cold brew coffee.
Because I didn’t wanna give up my new healthy routine.
Afterall, black coffee is a healthy plant-based antioxidant beverage choice. Tea has its own special place in my drink world, but after noon. 🕛
…And with a cold brew coffee milkshake, you don’t have to choose, you can enjoy anytime of day!
It’s a great treat option (…yes/maybe?) especially when it’s still warm temperatures outside. And that can be closer to year round in these climate change days.
And just seconds if you’ve been on the cold brew coffee bandwagon for a while, and have your setup and coffee grounds available.
…I could make you a nice cup in a minute and it’d be ready to drink in that same minute. 😊
I started making cold brew daily in 2019.
That’s when I discovered that I could not have a regular morning coffee routine because of the acidity. Whether it was the fasting day next morning or it was breakfast time, my stomach needs water and food first!
…Maybe yours is like that too.
But I can enjoy cold brew coffee at ease with some small food (like a banana, yogurt, or some fiber) in the gut.
So if you have a sensitive gut or lining, that’s something to consider… and maybe you don’t have to give up a coffee habit or coffee morning routine if you don’t wanna.
…And this light creamy coffee milkshake is a nice complement.
You can keep adding cold brew to your milkshake that can be a breakfast shake (or more like a light cappuccino). 🧋
And it’s a healthy breakfast dessert drink because it’s light but also has egg protein. 🥚
With a plant-based milk like almond milk added, this does your body good. 🌱
Since cold brew coffee is less acidic in the process, you can start your morning with any ground coffee that you can sift through the coffee filter, that is “the brew” process in cold brew.
You can use light, medium, or dark black coffee grounds. Whatever suits your fancies.
And to top it all off, the optional sweet zhugh is chocolate shavings. If you use dark chocolate then you gain some additional healthy polyphenol anti-inflammatory points. 🎉
That’s all the sugar needed in this coffee milkshake drink, if any.
It’s not loaded with sugar like so many cool coffee beverages you buy that give even my inner child a sugar skin crawl attack just looking at how many grams of sugar. 😮
This milkshake can have no added sugar and be wickedly good!
…And not only is this a low-sugar beverage, you gotta love that this is 3-ingredient easy shake steps… where you focus mostly on the drinking enjoyment!
Beet berry smoothie is one inviting drink that’s vibrant pretty to look at… and pretty gut healthy. Plus, tasty good!
Like a painting in creation, the Alizarin crimson hues in this beet red smoothie are deep saturated in color 🎨 and filled with rainbow polyphenol anti-inflammatory goodness.
Ginger as a punchy spice ingredient is good for digestion and calming bloating symptoms.
It’s one of the power spices for digestive health. And even recommended for IBS patients.
Plus, adding ginger to a beet smoothie gives it a flavor pairing knock-out punch… that I’m all about coming from my catering days.
…And this one knocks you off your seat!
Ginger takes this beet drink from good to POW-WOW. 🤩
You may even skip a caffeine jolt as the flavors are awakening strong.
And if ginger is not a flavor vibe you’ve gotten accustomed to… (or maybe even detest today), I can totally relate.
…When I was a kid, my mom cooked ginger in meals. Not just hints of ginger spice, but actual whole chunks of ginger.
And that’s when I made a face ☹️ and didn’t want to eat food or anything that came within millimeters of the infected ginger taste.
But as our bodies change, our tastes also change.
Little did I know that ginger is Vata balancing.
And it’s surprising I started to like the taste of ginger decades later… it grew on me with ginger and cookies and gingerbread cookies. 😊
…And ginger chocolate.
…So, maybe those are the sweeter ginger tastes needed for you to see the value and bring ginger alive in your life. 😉
Crystallized ginger goes well with chocolate and is one of the happy foods (as it has a little bit of sugar). Sugar and spice is balancing.
You can even make a puzzle game out of it if that’ll bring in the likability factor.
And slowly your tide can change one ginger taste at a time and you find yourself one day drinking ginger water.
And graduate to a smoothie like this one where ginger is one of the star ingredients that gives this beet smoothie some good stars! 🌟
Along with a red apple, this is one anti-inflammatory beet smoothie.
Apples are high in quercetin that daily help us keep the doctor away. 🍎
…And finally, another star ingredient is the blended in super berries, like blueberries (and you can substitute or mix in with strawberries if you prefer).
Anti-Inflammatory drinks are common and very good for preventing inflammation that can lead to some chronic diseases.
Like this special blue matcha ocean one that reminds us that we are small in calm chaos with climate change. This recipe is below.
To get in our calm we can make an ocean layered drink (recipe below)
…and watch changes
And yes, your dry skin eczema and other symptoms could be related. Check out the anti-inflammatory blue matcha tea drink below you can make to have a cool and inflammation-free day. 🧋
Look for heirloom, organic, or local farmers market produce as in-season (free of pesticides, good for us and the environment)
As we’re approaching warmer months, we like our soothing and cooling anti-inflammatory drinks. But that can depend on what helps balance our healthy Ayurveda body (and restore imbalances for our season).
Natural fruit-infused waters are usually a great option to flavor water, where you can simply add parts of whole fruits and veggies. Like orange, lemon, or lime peels for natural sweet-tartness. And are on a list of 200 anti-inflammatory foods you can checkout. 🛒
If you don’t have a home organic composting system (most people don’t), saving food scraps helps to cut down on waste before discarding in the garbage or the disposal. Plus, this eco-move prevents attracting unwanted house critters in warmer months.
For the little extra effort it takes, saving is so easy to do!
Take an orange. You can zest the peel of an orange that can substitute the “sugar” for your baking. Then use the skin and pith for your flavored orange water. It usually gets discarded even though it has higher vitamin amounts.
And of course, saving the best for last… enjoy the juicy orange slices for a snack, which is the only part that almost never gets tossed.
Now that’s a systemized orange habit 👏 where nothing gets tossed out, and you would reap all the healthy and other benefits.
These are some other Zero Waste-inspired anti-inflammatory drinks you can brew in a mason jar or recycled container jugs.
Kapha “Fire Up Cider” Anti-Inflammatory Drinks
Ideal Storage: Cool, dark cupboard or pantry
An off-balance Kapha body often has a need to intake fewer calories, especially if feeling heavy or sluggish after meals is a common natural symptom.
And when lacking energy, I love healthy fire cider drinks made with acidic ACV and lemon juice from a lemon. You can save the lemon zest and lemon pith and skin for lemonade. Or you can use pre-bought lemon juice.
Horseradish is the pungent ingredient I add in this fiery elixir, but that’s for you to decide if you can stomach it, and then top off with a kick of heat that can come from cayenne pepper. You can also sub the horseradish with garlic or onions.
And if jalapeno peppers are more your pack-a-punch vibe, that’s a good sub ingredient. You can also tone down the spicy twist with turmeric or a balanced hint of ginger.
This drink is good for Vatas too, but if you’re experiencing any slight Pitta imbalances, you’ll wanna turn down the heat!
Vata “Spice Digestion Elixir” Ayurveda Drink
Idea Storage: Refrigerator door or lower shelf in the fridge
An off-balance Vata can feel a sensitive or butterfly nervous stomach, and this drink can help.
Add Ginger, Cinnamon, Orange Peels, Allspice, plus your favorite spices and filtered water to a jar. Then shake up your mixture. Because of the peels, store this elixir in the fridge like juice if you plan on keeping it for longer than a week. These ingredients are anti-inflammatory.
I like to keep this in a repurposed plastic jar/container that was going to be sent to recycling (with a 9% chance of making its final destination… just sayin’ ♻️).
Pitta-Vata “Fermented Mother” Ayurveda Drinks
Ideal Storage: Cool cupboard or pantry (but not the fridge)
A Pitta or imbalanced Pitta can feel heartburn or upper GI tract symptoms. The ingredients in this drink all-in-all is a great elixir for high Pittas and Vatas.
Plus, this elixir is sweet and lasts in your cool cupboard with no expiration date!
Add organic ACV with “the mother enzyme” that looks like residue sitting at the bottom of the jar and mix with a few TBSPs of raw honey.
ACV improves digestion (increasing stomach acid production that tends to decrease as you age). Our internal body changes over time– a good message to share to younger friends and siblings who think they’ll stay the same forever! 😉
You can take a few spoonfuls of this before a meal and this helps glucose levels and prevents blood sugar spikes. The ACV smells can be off-putting to some, but the raw honey will smooth out the unfavorable ACV scent.
Honey is everything sweet in my opinion. So much so, here are some good storage tips:
Honey is best stored in a cooler, dark cupboard or sitting with a closed top in a pantry. By itself, raw honey never goes bad. It’s best not refrigerated or in changing (cooling) temperatures in a fridge that can speed up crystallization. And if you find the right honey and brand, it won’t crystallize at all in the right room temperatures.
Anti-inflammatory raw honey doesn’t have a hard rule expiration date that needs to be followed, as it has very low moisture content. I’ve never seen it go bad. But be sure to close the top or lid completely to eliminate moisture (and bacteria) in the air from entering over periods of time.
One popular honey dessert I remember was served up to many during my event planning days, is a dessert called Awamat, or Lebanese donuts, that is finished off with none other than honey and saffron as a glaze.
Because they looked more like donut holes they could be beautifully displayed as a croquembouche-style evergreen tree table display with a ‘lil engineering ingenuity and creativity… I’m sure recent GBBO contestants, Giuseppe or Juergen, could figure it out!
And besides food, “honey is medicine” as it’s an antioxidant and has antibacterial and antifungal (microbial) benefits. Our ancestors (the ancient Egyptians) and our modern Ayurveda practices have been using honey to prevent infections and help lower inflammation for ages.
It’s also a natural humectant, so whether you have dry skin or a dry throat when applied, it will also help with relieving symptoms. I can’t say enough about raw honey’s sticky goodness. 🍯
And you can add your honey to this calming anti-inflammatory butterfly tea 🦋🍵 drink that’ll sweeten your day.
coffee or black tea like English Breakfast or Early Grey
raw honey, optional
blueberries, optional
Instructions
Brew your blue matcha tea leaves for about 5 minutes in a mug. Be sure to use cooler than boiling water to not burn the leaves. Cool in the refrigerator.
Pour about 1/3 high tea to your drinking glass or rock glass for your "ocean." Add honey (optional).
Freeze.
Add a "sand" layer with coffee or black tea.
Freeze again.
Add milk or cappuccino froth for "cloud." layer. Zhugh with blueberries if desired.
