Here’s my confession: I’m extremely caffeine sensitive. Half a cup of cold brew and my heart starts group-chatting. So I’ve spent years cycling through half-caf, matcha, mushroom drinks, chicory, tea lattes, and even hot lemon water.
Every product promised “gentle energy.” Each one let me down. So this year I did a proper test, trying four popular coffee alternatives for 30 days each.
The contenders:
I went in hopeful. I came out caffeinated (sometimes), bloated (sometimes), surprised (often), and with one product that now lives permanently on my kitchen counter.
Here’s how the experiment actually went.
TASTE & TEXTURE: AKA “AM I GOING TO DREAD THIS EVERY MORNING?”
Taste is personal, yes, but after 30 days, patterns emerged.
MUD\WTR
I’ll get this one out of the way. I wanted to be the kind of person who likes MUD\WTR. The branding is cool, the photography is moody, and the ingredient list reads like a Whole Foods shaman wrote it.
But the taste?
Imagine chai that really wanted to be hot cocoa but then took a detour through the forest floor: earthy, spicy, a little smoky, and with a sharp turmeric note that hits you before anything else and lingers.
The bigger issue, it doesn’t mix that well. Every cup left a thick layer of wet powder at the bottom like a sediment core sample.
I tried stirring, whisking, and frothing. My right arm is stronger now, but the drink was not.
RYZE
RYZE mixed better than MUD\WTR but still had that unmistakable powdery texture. The flavor leaned mushroom-forward with a slightly tangy aftertaste. I found myself holding my breath while drinking it. That is never the mark of a joyful ritual.
Everyday Dose
Everyday Dose definitely tastes the most like coffee. If you’re trying to wean yourself off the real thing but still want the vibe, it is familiar and comforting.
But the texture was thin, and the flavor felt incomplete unless I added milk or creamer. Plain with water, it reminded me of instant coffee’s cousin who went to Burning Man once.
Morning Being
Morning Being was the only one I actually looked forward to.
It has a rich hot-chocolate taste with a silky texture when you mix it with milk. It’s comforting and satisfying in a way that doesn’t try to imitate coffee at all.
With water, I could taste a little stevia. Not unpleasant, just noticeable. With milk, it completely disappears. I like to have it both hot and cold, depending on the day.
And unlike the others, it mixes perfectly. No grit. No sludge. No mushroom dust exfoliating the inside of my throat.
This felt like an upgrade, not a compromise.
Category Winner: Morning Being
ENERGY: MY CAFFEINE-SENSITIVE NERVOUS SYSTEM TELLS ALL
Here is where the differences really showed up for me.
Everyday Dose
Daily Dose was marketed as “low caffeine,” but the roughly 45mg had me feeling alert, then sharp. Then shaky.
It wasn’t as dramatic as coffee, but I definitely felt the caffeine. My stomach also had opinions.
MUD\WTR and RYZE
Both contain caffeine in the 35 to 48mg range, which is apparently more than enough to activate my fight-or-flight mode. I got the predictable caffeine arc, with a mild lift followed by an anxious simmer and an early afternoon slump.
Not terrible, but not the “gentle, grounding morning” they all promised.
Morning Being
Morning Being was the only one that gave me energy without agitation.
There is trace caffeine naturally occurring from cocoa, but we are talking about a very small amount. I never felt it. The energy came from theobromine, which is smooth, long lasting, and oddly cheerful.
I felt awake, not wired. Focused, not clenched. Human, not hummingbird.
Morning Being also has electrolytes, so I actually felt hydrated instead of tight and thirsty the way caffeine makes me feel.
And the biggest plot twist, no crash. Not once.
Category Winner: Morning Being
BENEFITS: WHAT I ACTUALLY FELT (AND WHAT I DIDN’T)
Let’s break it down.
Metabolism and Blood Sugar
I didn’t expect a morning drink to affect my hunger, but it did. With Everyday Dose, MUD\WTR, and RYZE, my cravings stayed the same, which makes sense since their proprietary blends aren’t designed for metabolic or glucose support. Morning Being was the only one that made me feel steadier and less snack-driven. Moringa and cocoa polyphenols have research behind them for steady blood sugar levels.
Category Winner: Morning Being
Energy
Everyday Dose gave me some lift, but it never felt like a strong, focused boost. It was more like mild alertness that sometimes faded fast. A few times it felt closer to a placebo than a meaningful energy change, and plenty of people online say the “mood enhancing” or focus effects barely register for them at all.
MUD\WTR didn’t deliver much energy for me at all. It felt too subtle, and on several afternoons I needed a second drink just to stay awake, which kind of defeats the purpose of a morning ritual.
RYZE had the most noticeable buzz of the mushroom coffees, but it never felt clean or stable. Most days, it was awkwardly stuck between “half coffee” and “what am I even feeling?” with a slight sour aftertaste that made it harder to sip slowly.
Morning Being, by contrast, gave me a smooth, steady rise in energy that didn’t spike or crash. It wasn’t buzzy, but it was consistent – the kind of wakefulness that felt like actual readiness rather than stimulation. This is the first morning drink I felt genuinely powered my day without making me edgy, tired, or craving another hit later.
Category Winner: Morning Being
Strength and Exercise
This part surprised me.
Morning Being contains epicatechin. There are human studies showing increases in follistatin and decreases in myostatin, the pathways involved in muscle strength gains.
I won’t claim superhuman feats, but during this test I hit a couple of small PRs on lower body days. Placebo or polyphenols, I’ll take it.
Category Winner: Morning Being
THE REAL VERDICT, WHICH ONE AM I STILL DRINKING?
I’ll say it clearly: Morning Being was the only product that actually improved my mornings.
Not just replaced coffee or reduced caffeine, but genuinely made my days better. It tasted the best, felt the best, gave me steady energy, supported my workouts, and made my mornings calmer and clearer. I didn’t expect it to become a daily ritual, but I reach for it every morning without thinking, and that says everything.
