avoiding caffeine drinks in Prague

An essential part of looking, feeling, and being cool in Europe (and most other places) is enjoying a cup of caffeine on a sunny day in a sidewalk café. But if you want to nip your caffeine intake, how can you do that? It’s easier than you might think, even in a coffee-saturated city like Prague. Caffeine-free and other healthy drinks are available at internationally-known coffee shops such as Nespresso and Starbucks, open just this year in Prague. Caffeine-free coffee is available for purchase in the major large grocery stores. For the adventurous, caffeine-free coffee made from organic chicory root or yannoh (grains and spices) may be purchased in local health food stores.

Caffeine-free tea is even easier to find. Charming čajovna tea shops are located literally all over the city. Some are dark, mysterious sub-street level dens where you sit on sofas or cushions; others are like regular run- of-the-mill tea rooms, and some combine tea drinking with travel – presentations, exhibitions, music programs – from around the world. All offer a menu as thick as a notebook with caffeinated and caffeine-free teas in all kinds of colors from traditional green or black to red, white, and more. Green teas are also available in specialty tea shops as well as regular grocery stores.

Juice bars have always been around, but in the last few years the organic/bio variety have gained a huge following. Additionally, almost all restaurants and drinking establishments offer juice from a package, and many have fresh-squeezed (usually orange or berry) juices or smoothies on the menu.

Unfortunately, caffeine-free cola drinks have not made inroads in Prague yet, although sugar-free or “light” varieties abound. What you will find everywhere are huge assortments of mineral waters, in restaurants, bars, hotels, and all groceries of all sizes. Fruit-flavored and low-calorie mineral water has become popular lately, too. Be sure to specify “perliva” (with gas bubbles) or “neperliva” (without). In stores, the bubbly water is bottled with a red cap; the flat, with a blue cap; and a mixture, with a green cap. Like most of the rest of Europe, in the Czech Republic soft drinks are served barely cooled; ice in these drinks is rare.

Finally, if you’re a fan of non-alcoholic beer, you’re in the right place. The beer in Prague and the rest of the Czech Republic is world famous, and for good reason. What may not be so well-known, however, is that many brews are also available in a tasty non-alcoholic version. Be sure to ask, or look on the menu for “nealkoholické.” Nazdraví! (“To your health!”)