Gluten Free/decaf Hot Chocolate?

[Waitingindreams]

Does it exist? I gave up caffeine a few years ago to try to help my rosacea clear up. Now whenever I have caffeine (except for chocolate) I get really sick. Even my pumpkin tea that I love makes me really sick :\

 

So if I ever drink tea, it has to be decaf. I'm done with coffee. Now that the winter months are coming up, I want to be able to make hot chocolate. I know SwissMiss has a lot of gluten free flavors, but are there any brands that have decaf/AND gluten free hot chocolate? I'm not sure if the amount of caffeine in hot chocolate is even enough to make me sick, but I'd rather ask to be safe.

 

Also, does anyone know if gluten free/decaf pumpkin tea exists? Bigelow's pumpkin tea is amazing, but unfortunately it is not decaf.

[Adalaide]

The only caffeine in hot chocolate is from the chocolate so if having it from chocolate doesn't bother you, it shouldn't from hot chocolate either. They don't just add caffeine to hot chocolate. If you are worried about mixes, you can just use cocoa, sugar, vanilla and milk to make some. It doesn't take any longer if you're the kind of person that makes your hot chocolate with milk anyway.

 

And no, there are no caffeine free teas with pumpkin that I'm aware of. I know the one you mean, which is made with black tea. There are some from some of the fancier tea shops, such as Teavana but none that I've found are herbal so they aren't caffeine free. The problem is that they need a tea (or tea-ish herbs) with enough punch to it to stand up to the pumpkin and it's spices, and outside of oolong or black tea it's simply hard to find one, even among all of the herbal options.

[Waitingindreams]

Thank you! I really wasn't sure about how much caffeine was in hot chocolate...yeah, the caffeine in chocolate candies doesn't bother me, so you're probably right that it wouldn't make me sick. I just like to ask because I'm new to the gluten-free diet and it's really nice to get feedback from people who are also dealing with this firsthand.

 

As for the pumpkin tea - it was worth a shot to ask! The pumpkin tea is really good. I ordered a big stock of it before caffeine was making me sick, and now I can't drink any of it.   Go figure, right?

[WinterSong]

I'll take your tea! lol

 

I've done that before. Just end up giving all my food away.

[Adalaide]

That pumpkin tea is really good. I accidentally bought some 2 or 3 winters ago, I didn't look at the label closely and it was in a display with a bunch of herbal teas so I just grabbed it. I had had about 2 or 3 cups when I realized it was actual tea. Oops. (I don't drink tea.) There was much sadness in our house, but we consoled ourselves with other holidays teas. It's also when we started shopping at Teavana, nothing like it for herbal teas. They have a winter berry that is incredible.

[bartfull]

White chocolate doesn't have caffeine, and they do make white hot chocolate. Google it and you'll see it available in a bunch of different places.  Somebody gave me some for Christmas a few years ago and even though I didn't drink it (I just don't LIKE hot chocolate of any kind), all of my friends who drank it said it was good.

[shadowicewolf]

White chocolate doesn't have caffeine, and they do make white hot chocolate. Google it and you'll see it available in a bunch of different places.  Somebody gave me some for Christmas a few years ago and even though I didn't drink it (I just don't LIKE hot chocolate of any kind), all of my friends who drank it said it was good.

white hot chocolate is good.

[Waitingindreams]

Wintersong - If only! I'm not sure if it's gluten free, though...that could be partially why I got sick. For all I know the flavoring is malted. I really don't know - I just know the last few times I drank it I got really, really sick.

 

Adalaide - I love tea, but I mostly just like black tea. I know green tea is supposed to be good for you, as is herbal - but i haven't found a flavor that I like of either. I tried a few from Celestial Seasonings and I found it just gross. I usually stick to plain ol' decaf black tea. The pumpkin was amazing, but not worth the sickness. I might start trying out green teas just because of the antioxidants/health benefits, but I'm not thinking that I'll like it >.< Then again, maybe Teavana is better. I'll have to look into their flavors. Celestial Seasonings might be too strong for me or something. 

 

bartfull - Thanks for the tip! I didn't even know they had white hot chocolate. I'm definitely going to look into that. It is a relief to know that a popular brand like SwissMiss has gluten free hot chocolate. It probably is low enough in caffeine that it won't be an issue, but the white hot chocolate sounds interesting...hmm. Now too bad they don't make a gluten free pumpkin drink. I love my pumpkin stuff! OOh and I see Shadowicewolf just vouched for the white hot chocolate, definitely have to try it!

[Adalaide]

There is a fair amount of caffeine in green tea, I wouldn't recommend it for someone sensitive. When I say herbal teas, I mean tea that doesn't have tea in it. Black, oolong, green and white tea all come from the same plant and all have caffeine, unless decaffeinated. Herbal teas are different. They're simply herbs, spices, and commonly fruits, dried or sometimes fermented in the same way that tea is, that is steeped into a hot beverage. Heck, it's tea if you take a fresh piece of ginger, a slice of lemon, pour hot water over it and add honey. Only you can't really package that to sell. 

 

I'm thinking that it may be possible to come up with a homemade pumpkin herbal tea. Rooibos is herbal, it's an African plant. I love the stuff to death, and it just may work with a light pumpkin flavoring. I'll have to think on it. It isn't like you can just add canned pumpkin to tea.   I'm debating in my head right now how well just using a cut up pumpkin, roasted for flavor then steeped would work and a spice packet in cheesecloth or a teaball.

[Waitingindreams]

Hmm...that is disappointing. I think they have decaf green tea, but still...agh. It's so much work just to try to be healthy. I pretty much only drink tea when I'm sick or when it's cold out, just to have something warm. 

 

I wish I liked herbal tea. I tried two different brands - Celestial Seasonings and then another brand that my sister bought for me for Christmas, I can't recall the name. The Apple Cinnamon from Celestial Seasonings for example was wayyy too strong for me. It tasted like someone melted down those 'fireball' candies. I just didn't like it. The peppermint teas were too strong for me as well. 

 

Oh wow! That sounds interesting. I do love my pumpkin flavored...everything. I was really happy when I saw that the pumpkin pie flavored frozen yogurt at Peachwave/Kiwi Spoon etc was gluten free. I'm sure there are gluten free pumpkin pie recipes as well, I'll find something for Thanksgiving. 

[WinterSong]

There are SOOO many pumpkin recipes out there right now, and I love it! I make pumpkin bread twice a year - and only twice because I get selfish and eat the entire batch within a few days  I've seen some great looking crepe and smoothie recipes, too. You're bound to find a bunch of good stuff.

 

As for hot chocolate - I make my own with almond milk, coco powder, vanilla, and stevia. Does the trick, is low in calories and sugar, and is much healthier than mixes. 

[Waitingindreams]

I've been wanting to make pumpkin bread! Right before I was diagnosed, our element in the stove went out and we JUST got a new one. Once my mom gets over letting other people use it, I definitely want to make pumpkin bread. I don't care if it's out of season!

 

Ooh, that does sound pretty good. I think a lot of it with me, and maybe others newly diagnosed - is the convenience. It used to be so easy to just grab something quick and make it. Now we have to read everything and possibly do further research. I like the idea of homemade foods, but I am probably not going to want to do it all the time. Maybe once i move out and I can have a completely gluten free household..or at least primarily gluten free. My parents don't want to be bothered, and they aren't very supportive - so it's easier for me to just grab minute rice and steamfresh vegetables...or pre-mixed packets of hot chocolate. My boyfriend is far more understanding and wants to try the recipes with me, but until I move out...it's hard to get kitchen time.

 

Do you literally just mix the ingredients together and then heat it up? 

[WinterSong]

I've been wanting to make pumpkin bread! Right before I was diagnosed, our element in the stove went out and we JUST got a new one. Once my mom gets over letting other people use it, I definitely want to make pumpkin bread. I don't care if it's out of season!

 

Ooh, that does sound pretty good. I think a lot of it with me, and maybe others newly diagnosed - is the convenience. It used to be so easy to just grab something quick and make it. Now we have to read everything and possibly do further research. I like the idea of homemade foods, but I am probably not going to want to do it all the time. Maybe once i move out and I can have a completely gluten free household..or at least primarily gluten free. My parents don't want to be bothered, and they aren't very supportive - so it's easier for me to just grab minute rice and steamfresh vegetables...or pre-mixed packets of hot chocolate. My boyfriend is far more understanding and wants to try the recipes with me, but until I move out...it's hard to get kitchen time.

 

Do you literally just mix the ingredients together and then heat it up? 

Yup - I use a small saucepan and heat it up on the stove. Super easy

[WinterSong]

And let me know when you're ready to make pumpkin bread - I'll give you my recipe

[Waitingindreams]

Thanks! I appreciate that. I will definitely ask you. About the hot chocolate - how much do you use of each item? How much almond milk, how much stevia, etc? I definitely need an exact recipe to follow, otherwise I'll somehow mess it up

[WinterSong]

Haha

 

1 cup almond milk

1 tbs coco powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

The amount of stevia depends on how many grams of sugar is in your almond milk. If there's a lot of sugar, you may not need to sweeten it at all. I get the unsweetened kind and use one or two individual packets of stevia. But that is all done to taste, so taste it while you're heating it up. Super easy!

 

Of course make sure that all of your ingredients are gluten free, especially the vanilla extract. Contact manufacturers on the coco powder and stevia, too. I've heard questionable things about Truvia's gluten-free statement, though I'm not sure of the validity of that rumor. In any case, I picked a different brand and contacted the manufacturer. 

[Adalaide]

A note about making your own hot chocolate. Mix the cocoa powder with just enough of the milk to get it wet first and mix until it is smooth. It'll be about an equal amount of milk and cocoa powder to do that. Or you can use water. It complete prevents any of the clumpiness that you can get by just throwing it all together without doing that first. I use the Hershey recipe, but have cut it down to make a single mug of cocoa at a time which is 1/3 of the recipe or so. I also use dark chocolate cocoa because that's just how I am and less sugar. You can use any kind of milk you want, and of course if it's sweetened you'd want less sugar and if you use a sugar substitute you would want to adjust it to taste anyway. If your milk substitute has vanilla you would probably want to skip adding it.

 

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