What We Drink When We're Not Drinking Coffee

The question that comes up most often in customer emails — second only to do you have decaf — is some version of what should I drink after dinner if I want something warm and don't want caffeine.

We get why. The default answer in our culture is another cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and neither of those fits when you want something warm without the buzz. The honest answer is: it depends on what you want from the cup.

This post is the longer version. What we actually drink after 7 PM, what we keep stocked in the office kitchen, what we recommend to friends and family, and what we don't recommend even though we get asked about it. None of it is a sales pitch — it's a list of what works for us, in case it's useful.

For the practical question of when to stop drinking coffee in the day, our why we don't drink coffee past noon post has the caffeine timing walkthrough. For why we don't carry decaf yet, our why we don't sell decaf post has the math. This one is specifically about what we drink instead.

The short version

If you want a one-line answer: hibiscus tea, brewed strong, hot or cold, is what most of us reach for when we want something warm and flavorful after 7 PM. Our hibiscus berry tea is in our own kitchen. If you want something with a bit of body and almost no caffeine, that's the answer.

The longer answer involves four drinks we keep on rotation, plus one we tried and dropped. Let me walk through each.

Drink 1: Hibiscus tea, hot

This is the team favorite for evening drinks.

Hibiscus tea — specifically the tart, ruby-red, floral version made from dried hibiscus calyces — has a flavor profile that lands somewhere between cranberry and rose hip. It's bright without being sharp. It's tart without being sour. It pairs well with honey, mint, or just by itself. The body is medium, fuller than most herbal teas, closer to a light black tea than to a chamomile.

The brewing ratio matters here. Most people under-brew hibiscus because they treat it like a delicate green tea. It needs the same ratio as black tea — about 1 tablespoon of dried hibiscus per 8 ounces of water, steeped at 200°F for 5–7 minutes. Under-brewed hibiscus tastes watery and grassy. Properly brewed, it tastes like a small, tart, satisfying cup that fills the warm-drink slot in the evening without any of the caffeine.

We brew it strong, sometimes with a sprig of fresh mint if we have it, sometimes with a thin slice of fresh ginger if the weather is cold. The hibiscus-mint version is what I drink most nights at home.

Our hibiscus berry tea is the version we sell — hibiscus with elderberry, rose hip, and a touch of natural berry. It brews the same way. The blend is more layered than pure hibiscus, with the elderberry adding a darker fruit note and the rose hip deepening the tartness.

Drink 2: Chamomile, with honey

This is the gentle option. The one we recommend for people who want something calming and don't care about bold flavor.

Chamomile tea has a long history as a "before bed" drink, and there's reasonable science behind it. Chamomile contains apigenin, a compound that binds to the same receptors in the brain as some sleep medications, with a much milder effect. The effect is real but gentle — chamomile tea doesn't knock you out, it just takes the edge off.

The brewing is the part most people get wrong. Chamomile is delicate, but most chamomile sold in stores is old — it loses its aroma within 6 months of packaging, and the chamomile tea bags in your cupboard from two years ago have been quietly turning to dust. Fresh chamomile, brewed at 200°F for 4–5 minutes, has a bright, slightly sweet, apple-like flavor. Old chamomile, brewed the same way, tastes like vaguely soapy water.

If you can find fresh or recently packaged chamomile (we source ours every 6 months), it makes a real difference. We add a small amount of raw honey, which dissolves into the warm tea and adds the kind of natural sweetness that feels more substantial than sugar.

Our jasmine tea — yes, jasmine, not chamomile — is what we keep in the office kitchen because it doubles as a calming evening drink and a daytime refresher. More on jasmine below.

Drink 3: Matcha, in the afternoon

This one's counterintuitive. Matcha has caffeine, so it shouldn't fit the "no caffeine" frame. But there's a reason we drink it in the afternoon anyway.

Matcha contains about 70mg of caffeine per cup (compared to coffee's 95–120mg). It also contains L-theanine, an amino acid that slows the absorption of the caffeine and produces a calmer, more sustained energy release. The net effect is that a cup of matcha in the afternoon gives a noticeable lift without the spike-and-crash of coffee.

The other reason we drink matcha in the afternoon is the ritual. Making matcha is a 90-second process — scoop, sift, whisk, pour — that's more deliberate than a French press and less elaborate than a pour-over. It's the kind of small, focused ritual that fits the afternoon break the way coffee fits the morning break.

If you're already a coffee drinker looking to taper caffeine in the afternoon, matcha is the gradual transition. You don't go from two cups of coffee a day to herbal tea overnight. You replace the afternoon coffee with matcha first, then taper the matcha later in the day, then move to herbal tea in the evening. The matcha is the bridge.

Our matcha is ceremonial grade, from Uji, Japan. The flavor is grassy, slightly sweet, with a clean finish. Brewed at 160°F (not boiling — boiling makes matcha bitter), whisked in a small bowl with a bamboo whisk, it's the afternoon drink we keep reaching for.

Drink 4: Sparkling water, with lemon

This is the answer we give when someone asks for "something warm and flavorful after dinner" and actually means "something interesting to drink that isn't coffee or alcohol."

Sparkling water isn't warm, and it isn't tea, but it fills the same role. The carbonation gives the drink a presence that flat water doesn't. The lemon adds a flavor note. The combination is a palate cleanser, a small refreshment, and a ritual without the caffeine or the alcohol.

We drink more sparkling water in the evenings than most people probably assume. A glass of sparkling water and a slice of lemon, served in a proper glass (not the can), is a more satisfying evening drink than a lot of the alternatives. It's what we have when we want a drink with dinner that isn't wine.

If you want a flavored version without added sugar, try a few drops of lemon or lime juice, a small amount of fresh herbs (mint, basil, rosemary), or a splash of fruit juice. The point is to make it feel like a deliberate drink, not just hydration.

What we don't drink: decaf (for now)

This is the answer to the implicit question behind the question. We get asked for decaf constantly, and the honest answer is that we don't carry it yet, mostly because of the math.

We've written the longer version in why we don't sell decaf — short version is that decaf is 30–50% more expensive at the green coffee level, the minimum batch sizes don't work for our current scale, and we'd rather not ship a decaf that doesn't meet the standard we hold the rest of the catalog to. We'll add it when the demand justifies it, probably sometime in 2027.

In the meantime, the four drinks above are what we recommend. If you're drinking for warmth and flavor, hibiscus or chamomile. If you're drinking for a small afternoon lift, matcha. If you're drinking for a refreshing non-alcoholic option, sparkling water. None of them are decaf, and all of them are real drinks.

What we keep stocked

For the people who want the practical list of what we actually have in the office kitchen at any given time, here's the full inventory:

• Hibiscus berry tea — three bags in the tin at all times. The default evening drink.
• Jasmine tea — two bags. Doubles as a daytime refresher and an evening calmer.
• Chamomile — one bag. The before-bed option.
• Matcha — one tin. For afternoons, not evenings.
• Sparkling water — a case at all times, in glass bottles. The default non-tea option.
• Honey — local, raw. For chamomile and matcha.
• Fresh mint — when in season. For hibiscus and sparkling water.
• Lemons and limes — for sparkling water.

That's the full list. Coffee is what we drink before 7 PM. Everything else is on this list, plus whatever seasonal thing we're testing.

The honest answer

If you only remember one thing from this post: there's no single right answer to "what should I drink in the evening." It depends on what you want from the cup. For warmth and flavor, hibiscus. For calm and gentle, chamomile. For a small lift without the coffee spike, matcha. For something refreshing without alcohol, sparkling water.

What we won't do is recommend a decaf we don't carry or a wine we don't sell. Those are real options for real drinkers, just not what we have to offer. The four drinks above are what we have, what we drink ourselves, and what we recommend to friends and family.

For the broader walkthrough of caffeine timing through the day, our why we don't drink coffee past noon post is the practical read. For the decaf math and why we don't carry it yet, our why we don't sell decaf post has the breakdown. For the morning version of this question — what to drink at 6 AM instead of coffee — our why your morning coffee (or tea) matters post is the foundation. For the caffeine comparison between coffee and matcha specifically, our matcha vs coffee caffeine guide post has the numbers.

Brew slow. Sip slow. 🫖