I think that coffee, even with caffeine, is a better option than a grain-based coffee-like drink.

If you have medical issues that absolutely prevent you from being able to have caffeine, and absolutely cannot live without something coffee-esque, then I would count it in the 80/20 rule and consider it an indulgence. Have to keep it really limited if this was the case.

Maybe half-caff coffee?

Mountain Rose Herbs (http://www.mountainroseherbs.com) has an herbal coffee that is grain-free, made of mostly roots. It has a sort of Teeccino flavor. Dandelion root tea also has a reputation as a coffee substitute and a pretty dark, robust flavor. It's also supposedly good for your liver. I've been using these in efforts to stay off grains all the way while avoiding caffeine and decaf coffee (I also have hit my caffeine quota for life). They're not the same as coffee, but are better than nothing.

I drink South Indian filter coffee.

It's pretty much 2/3 coffee beans and 1/3 chicory. The brew is pretty strong, so its traditionally mixed with lots of milk and sweetener (jaggery or honey). It still has the same dark flavor, but I think it has less caffeine.

I think that if you are sensitive to coffee, and teechino treats your body well, and you like it, and it keeps you away from the coffee you are sensitive to, then, well...it's fine! We're all so individual. Some people might react to teechino, you need to determine what works for your body.

I am just curious why the words Paleo and Grain Based are in the same question? If you have a coffee intolerance, wouldn't you be better served drinking a Tea? Is it the robustness factor? I guess Yerba Mate will be out since you are trying to cut caffeine.

Barley is a glutenous grain. If you're gluten-sensitive to a significant extent (celiac, autoimmune disease) you would want to avoid barley-based coffee alternatives entirely.

If you don't believe yourself to be particularly gluten-sensitive, it could be more helpful than harmful if used temporarily to break a coffee habit, or on special occasions, but I don't see it being good as a long-term everyday thing.

Kaffree Roma is very good barley drink from morningstar.com

Try out organo gold http://mycapturepage.com/cp23.php?id=470

What is wrong with grain? Barley, in my understanding, is a very healthy grain. Barley tea from the Orient is considered a healthy drink and helpful in weight-loss and prevention of weight gain. I don't get all these comments about staying away from grains.

I have almost completely recovered from very bad year-round hay-fever type allergies, like a bad cold that lasted for months at a time, simply by giving up caffeine drinks completely and raising the amount of healthy liquids I drink every day, especially barley and/or chicory coffee substitutes. I drink a whole pot of coffee substitute every day, and have done for the last year or so, and have had very noticeable health benefits from it. It took a while to get that result, but there is no question as to what it is that caused the improvement because if I go even a day or two without drinking all that liquid, including my whole pot of coffee substitute (because that is how I can get liquids down best), I start getting my allergies back, but then they disappear again once I get my liquids up again for a couple of days. Doctors say to drink 8 glasses of water daily. I used to drink a couple of cups of coffee, and maybe 2 or 3 maximum glasses of water. This over a long period of time caused me serious chronic dehydration, and several problematic conditions along with that terrible allergy.

People who drink very much of any type of caffeine drinks, unless they compensate by drinking huge amounts of water or other healthy drinks to make up for the fluids that caffeine flushes out of the tissues of their bodies, are almost certainly going to become chronically dehydrated, which can cause many types of conditions and illnesses.