Dandelion coffee is roasted dandelion root brewed into a dark, bitter drink, and the plant’s use stretches back to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans and more than a thousand years of traditional Chinese medicine. It became a coffee stand-in whenever real beans vanished. Confederate soldiers cut off by Union naval blockades during the American Civil War relied on it, and in 1852 Susanna Moodie explained how to make it in her frontier memoir Roughing It in the Bush, having learned the method from a Dr. Harrison article in the New York Albion in the 1830s. The recipe reappeared in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in 1886, and in 1919 Professor William Trelease of the University of Illinois still pointed to the root as a cheap coffee source.

Making it is slow work. True dandelions, genus Taraxacum, must be told apart from catsear and hawksbeard by their rosette of toothed leaves and hollow, straw-like stems, and only three- to four-year-old plants have taproots about half an inch thick. Spring roots taste sweeter while fall roots turn denser and more bitter. The roots are sliced lengthwise, dried for two weeks, chopped, and oven roasted. Despite the name, the result is a caffeine-free tisane, and despite a long list of compounds in the root, there is no evidence it treats any medical condition.

• A lawn mower resets the clock, so mature roots have to come from undisturbed wild ground or a dedicated garden.
• Wet roots steam from the inside if roasted, which is why the full two-week drying period matters.
• Brewing takes a teaspoon of roasted root steeped in hot water for ten minutes.
• The root holds taraxacin, lutein, quercetin, luteolin, the fiber inulin, and chlorogenic and caffeic acids.
• Bitter taraxacin can stimulate bile and saliva, and reported side effects include heartburn, stomach discomfort, and allergic reactions.