If your stomach has become too sensitive to handle coffee, one or more of these alternatives might work for you:

The following alternatives help to reduce the acid that is in coffee that irritates the stomach:

Less Frequent Coffee and Smaller Portions

Give the digestive track a chance to recover between drinks.

Diluted with Milk Product or Milk Alternative

Adding a neutralizer to the acid coffee may make it less irritating.

Fresher Coffee

The fresher the coffee (picked, roasted, ground, and then served all within a short period of time), the less acid.

Lighter Roast Coffee

The lighter the roast of coffee, the less oily, the less irritating to the gall bladder.

Weaker Preparations

Instead of Espresso, or Perk, try one of these:

• Pour-through:  Boiled water poured one through fresh coffee in a filter is a gentler drink.
• Toddy Coffee:  Coffee that is cold-extracted and then heated before ingestion is a gentler drink.
• Instant Coffee:  Coffee that is freeze-dried and prepared by mixing with hot water is a gentler drink.

The following beverages contain caffeine or similar substances but are not coffee.  These are all teas.  The longer they are steeped the stronger and also more acid they become:

Yerba Mate

An herbal tea that contains a stimulent very similar to caffeine in chemical structure.  It is as strong a stimulent as coffee, and for some it is less irritating to the stomach.

Black (Pekoe) Tea

Contains caffeine and for some it is less irritating than coffee.

Orange (Pekoe) Tea

Contains caffeine and for some it is less irritating than coffee.

Turkish Tea

Turkish tea is a black tea that is grown in Turkey near the Black Sea.  It is prepared in stacked kettles.  Some people find this tea milder and more digestable than other black teas.

Oolong Tea, particularly Pu-erh

A delicious oolong tea that is known for being gentle on the stomach.

Green Tea

Green tea is a mild tea, sometimes mixed with roasted rice for extra flavor.

Green Tea Powder

Green tea powder is (like instant coffee), extracted green tea that has been freeze-dried.  It is gentler on the gallbladder than green tea.

Twig Tea

Twig tea is hard to find.  It is a pleasant and extremely mild tasting tea with very low amounts of caffeine

Ginseng Tea

Ginseng does not have caffeine but does provide an energy boost and is gentle on the stomach.

The following beverages contain no caffeine and some people prefer to drink these as coffee alternatives:

Cereal or Chicory Beverages

Pero, Postum, beverages that some people think taste like coffee or deliver a similar satisfaction.

GERD Tea

An herbal tea that definitely does not taste like coffee but helps to repair a delicate stomach.

Commercial Herbal Teas

Supermarkets and specialty shops present a wide variety of herbal teas, to suit many different tastes.