Caffeine-free
What to drink instead of your evening chai
By PLANT BIONIX · Updated
You don’t need anything new to drop caffeine in the evening. Indian kitchens already make more than a dozen caffeine-free drinks. The catch is knowing which familiar drinks aren’t caffeine-free.
Drinks that do contain caffeine
- Anything made from tea leaves: masala chai, black, green, white and oolong tea, iced tea, and Kashmiri noon chai, the “pink tea”, which is brewed from tea leaves too.
- Coffee in every form, from filter coffee to cold coffee.
- Colas and energy drinks.
- Chocolate and cocoa drinks, in smaller amounts.
- Some kadha recipes, which add tea leaves to the spices. Check how yours is made.
Thirteen caffeine-free drinks Indian homes already make
All of these are caffeine-free as long as nothing made with tea leaves, coffee or chocolate goes in.
| Drink | What it is | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Jeera water (jeeraka vellam) | Cumin seeds boiled in water | Drunk warm across Kerala and much of India |
| Coriander water (malli vellam) | Coriander seeds boiled in water | Another Kerala water-pot staple |
| Dry-ginger water (chukku vellam) | Dry ginger boiled in water | Sharp and warming to taste |
| Saunf water | Fennel seeds steeped in water | Faintly sweet, no sugar needed |
| Buttermilk (chaas, moru) | Thinned, salted curd, often with ginger and curry leaves | The classic with an evening meal |
| Tender coconut water | Straight from the coconut | A little sweet on its own |
| Nimbu pani | Lemon, water and a pinch of salt | Leave out the sugar if you want it unsweetened |
| Kerala pink water | A heartwood boiled into the drinking water | Drunk warm, by the pot, all day |
| Hibiscus infusion | Dried hibiscus flowers steeped in water | Deep red and tart |
| Butterfly pea infusion | Dried butterfly pea flowers steeped in water | Blue, and turns purple with lemon |
| Chamomile infusion | Dried chamomile flowers steeped in water | Mild and floral |
| Haldi doodh | Turmeric stirred into warm milk | A bedtime drink in many homes |
| Nannari sherbet | Sarsaparilla-root syrup in water | Usually sweetened with sugar |
Curious about the pink one? Here is why Kerala’s drinking water is pink.
How to tell whether a “herbal” drink has caffeine
Read the ingredients, not the front of the pack. Many herbal blends are built on green or black tea, so look for tea or Camellia sinensis in the list. Since December 2025, India’s food regulator has said that only drinks made from the tea plant may be called tea (FSSAI). A product labelled “infusion” should therefore contain no tea leaves, but the ingredient list is still the real check.
A drink for the whole evening, not one cup
Most of the drinks above are made a cup at a time. Pinkt is made a litre at a time: one sachet in a litre of water, and it turns rose on its own. No caffeine, no sugar, no dye.
If you are pregnant, take blood-thinning medicines or have a bleeding disorder, please check with your doctor before drinking Pinkt.
PLANT BIONIX products are food, not medicine. References to traditional use describe how these woods and waters have been used in Kerala households, not an outcome you should expect.
