2 years ago (to this very date), I noticed one morning that my morning coffee tasted odd.

At first, I thought maybe my coffee beans had gone rancid. It’s not uncommon for that to happen occasionally, but after my husband tried it out for taste, he assured me that it was fine.

Then I though it could a weird hormonal thing.

I was currently 20 weeks pregnant with my 5th baby and weird pregnancy symptoms weren’t out of the norm.

But then, a lot of different foods started to taste rancid too.

First, it was just coffee and peanut butter. Then next came meat and most packaged food. Then eventually, it seemed as if EVERYTHING that I tried to eat tasted bad.

It ended up being a condition called parsosmia where my sense of taste went wacky.

Roughly 3 months after recovering from covid, my taste and smell had made a turn for the worse. And sadly for me, a very much emotional pregnant lady, coffee just had to go.

Coffee had always been a part of my morning routine for the past 15 years, so it was sad having to give it up.

I knew it was probably a good thing since I was pregnant, but losing nearly all food for the same reason, it was just a turn of the knife in a deep wound.

Here I was 20 weeks pregnant. In the middle of winter. Succumbing to the winter blues. And nothing tasted good.

I won’t lie. I was in a deep pit of despair for awhile.

Having a distorted sense of smell and taste is literally the most maddening experience that I have ever been through.

People look at you like you are crazy and then they can’t relate to you. Or make comments like “it could be worse”, “it’ll be easy to lose weight once you have the baby”, and “at least you have a good reason to eat even healthier now.”

So… losing coffee was SAD.

But instead of wallowing, I was determined to find a replacement that I could find not only bearable, but enjoyable as well.

I came across two coffee replacement options

Mushroom coffee and Dandy Blend.

Mushroom coffee sounded bizarre to me, but I was willing to give it a try. Especially knowing how amazing mushrooms are for your health. Review on that coming soon.

Dandy Blend sounded like an even cleaner & healthier option.

Because Dandy Blend doesn’t contain caffeine, I knew this would probably be harder for me to try because I NEEDED that morning fix. But, I decided to give it a try and boy, am I glad that I did!

What is Dandy Blend?

Dandy Blend tea is an instant powder tea blend made from roasted dandelion root, barley, rye, and chicory. It’s a caffeine-free coffee alternative that actually resembles coffee.

And even though it contains rye & barley, Dandy Tea is completely gluten-free because of the type of water-extraction method that they use. You can find their gluten-free certification here.

The tea blend doesn’t need to be sifted or steeped, you just add it to hot water and mix up!

What does Dandy Blend Taste like?

The first time that I opened the bag of dandy tea, I won’t lie, I was a little nervous.

Nothing else had tasted good at this point and I was afraid of being majorly let down. Still, I made myself a cup of hot water with a spoonful of sugar & dandy tea and hoped for the best.

I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted amazing. In fact, because of my parosmia, it tasted more like coffee than coffee did at the time. HA!

A tremendous success!

I’d say that Dandy tea tastes very similar to coffee, but without the bold and acidic flavor. It’s very rich and has the faintest of earthy tones. The best way that I can describe it is lovely & uplifting, while still comforting and rich.

Now I  wake up in the morning and have my “coffee” and actually enjoy it. Not to mention the health benefits that it offers.

Health benefits of Dandy Blend

Dandelion alone offers many health benefits including lowering blood pressure, improving liver health, immune system support, and is a natural anti-inflammatory.

Dandy tea offers even more just by the fact that it contains so many nutrients and minerals including potassium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, and manganese.

Trace minerals have also found to be in dandy tea by 3rd party testing. Trace minerals such as copper, zinc, boron, rubidium, chromium, and strontium.

My favorite way to drink dandy Blend tea

Since I drink dandy blend as a coffee substitute, I like to take it the way that I do like my coffee: with cream and sugar.

Every Morning my toddler helps me turn on the mini keurig and presses the button to start the hot water.

Within a minute, my cup is filled with hot water, just waiting to be blended with the perfect mix of cream, sugar, and tea.

1 heaping tablespoon of dandy blend. 2 teaspoons of raw sugar. A splash of cream.

I ditched my favorite creamer over a year ago after I discovered that they changed the formula in the most sneaky way.

I will be honest here. Using too little of the dandy tea can make it taste a little on the weak side, and if you’re used to drinking coffee, it will taste better when you use more.

I also enjoy adding a heaping tablespoon into my vanilla protein shakes. This gives it a slight coffee flavor and the added nutrients is a plus!

You can also add Dandy tea to pancakes, baked goods, and anything that you wish to have a subtle coffee flavor.

Where to buy Dandy tea

While I have yet to see Dandy tea stocked on the shelves at my local grocery stores, there are several places where it can be found online.

Amazon is where I first ordered from and they have several size options to choose from.

I’ve also seen it listed on Walmart’s website (although, the price is better on Amazon).

You can also purchase a sample pack on their website for just $2 and free shipping!

If you’re looking for a good (and healthy) coffee substitute, you won’t be disappointed with Dandy Blend.

Here I am 2 years later and look forward to my morning beverage every day.

AND…no more tears have been shed about losing coffee to parosmia.

Dandy Tea came to the rescue when I needed it the most and I ended up falling in love with it’s lovely flavor with added health benefits.

Looking to ditch your current every day products and switch to safer options?

Check out more of my reviews here (with even more to come!)

Shop my FAVORITE products here. These are products that I use daily and are fully vetted to be safe & natural choices.