I’m back with another Scrappy Cooking recipe! In this series, I take common food scraps and turn them into delicious dishes. This time, we are making date seed coffee – a great caffeine-free alternative to the traditional hot drink.

Date Seed Coffee

Did you know you could turn date seeds into a beverage reminiscent of coffee, but without the caffeine? Date seed coffee has a more subtle flavor, but it’s really delicious and gives you a great excuse to keep those date seeds around.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • It’s a great caffeine-free alternative to coffee that is virtually free. Why spend money on decaf coffee, when you can make a lovely drink in your own kitchen using food scraps?
  • Speaking of food scraps, by finding use for the date seeds, you are reducing your personal food waste.
  • If you find the taste of coffee too intense, this is a great option with a more subtle taste.
  • Pitted dates are often more expensive than the ones with seeds. With this recipe, you can save money and enjoy a delicious drink!

How to Make This Recipe

Start by removing the seeds from your dates. For this recipe, I used Medjul dates, so the seeds were quite large. You need about 1/2 cup of date seeds.

The dates themselves can be used in a smoothie or a refreshing salad.

Date Seed Coffee

The seeds need to be thoroughly cleaned. Scrape off any flesh, wash them and pat them dry.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Transfer the seeds to a lined baking sheet. Bake for about 40 minutes.

Date Seed Coffee

Once they have been roasted, transfer the seeds into a coffee grinder and grind. Depending on the type of coffee-making equipment you use, you may choose a coarse or a fine grind.

At this point, use ground date seeds to brew a delicious hot drink.

Hack It!

  • If you’re looking for a low-caffeine option, these date seeds can be mixed with ground coffee.
  • You can roast and grind the seeds in advance, which means when it’s time to make a “coffee”, it takes less than 5 minutes!
  • For an iced coffee drink, brew the ground seeds with hot water, allow it to cool down, then add plant milk, ice and syrup if desired!

Store This Recipe

Once you’ve ground the seeds, store your date “coffee” in an airtight container at room temperature.

Other Recipes You’ll Love

For more recipes like this, check out PlantYou meal planner! Our goal is to make plant-based living as easy as possible. With the PlantYou planner, you can customize your weekly meal plans, choose the number of servings on every single dish, and enjoy an auto-generated shopping list. Eating plants has never been easier!

Date Seed Coffee

The Recipe: Date Seed Coffee

A great caffeine-free alternative to the traditional hot drink
5 from 8 ratings
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Leave a Review
Servings: 1
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Brewing time: 2 minutes

Ingredients

  • ½ cup date seeds, about 8 large seeds per cup

Equipment

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
  • Remove the seeds from your dates. I used the seeds from Medjool dates. Clean thoroughly.
  • Roast on a parchment-lined baking sheet for around 30 minutes.
  • After removing from the oven, use a coffee grinder or food processor to create date coffee grinds. Make sure it is a heavy duty coffee grinder as these are heartier than a regular coffee seed. You can also grind using a mortar and pestle to be safe.
  • Prepare how you would regular coffee.
Cuisine: American
Course: Breakfast, Drinks
Author: Cat Gavriusova
Date Seed Coffee

A vegan zero-waste recipe.