When I went to Vancouver B.C. a few years ago, I discovered this coffee substitute called “Krakus”. Wow, I never knew that there was a beverage available that tasted like coffee without the caffeine and side effects. Krakus came in a brown tin can and smelled so yummy! With half and half, it tasted just like coffee. Since then, I have never been able to find Krakus in the US. It seems to be only a Canadian product. So I went on a mission to find another coffee substitute. I searched high and low, checking every gourmet grocery store I could find, in big cities as well as small towns around the Bay Area. I have tried Postum, Pero, and Teccino and let me tell you, they were all disappointing! I was ready to give up, when one day, I came across Inka coffee substitute. Inka doesn’t taste weird like the other coffee substitutes. In fact, Inka is the only one that tastes very close to Krakus. Inka is made of roasted barley, rye, chicory, and beet roots. There are no artificial ingredients. Just place a rounded teaspoon of Inka in a cup and add boiling water. Then add cream and sugar. I recommend half and half because it will give you that rich, creamy coffee taste.
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Krakus used to be marketed in Canada under the name Inka. I think they are the same thing. Beetroot is the ingredient that makes it superior to some of the other similar beverages. Cafix also has beetroot in the same ingredient order…
Thanks for the comment, Penelope. I wonder if that’s true. They taste different. My brother brought me some Krakus from a trip to Vancouver. The Krakus brand tastes slightly more roasted than Inka.
I have a can of Krakus(registered name) and on the same label inka. This can of coffee substitute which I happen to like, is at least 30 years old and had been sitting on my shelf unused. It is in a metal & cardboard can with the type of lid you found in the old days that you had to pry up and which closed very tightly.
Cultivate a taste for it . You’ll enjoy a caffeine-free drink.
So – Krakus and Inka are one and the same.
Thanks for the clarification. I do like Inka/Krakus. It’s better than Postum. There’s a new brand that I saw at the Fancy Food Show by Oskri. They only use roasted barley. It has a bitter taste close to coffee and it’s growing on me.
I purchased some INKA the other day. It was delicious. More delicious than coffee. But it didn’t contain any chicory or beet roots as mentioned in the copy above.
Are there two different types of INKA?
Do you know where in Winnipeg, Manitoba you can purchase the Krakus coffee substitute? We’ve run out of it, and the local polish store no longer carries it.
thanks.
I know that they sell it in Vancouver. Maybe you can contact some of the natural food stores and see if they do online orders.
I will answer my own question. I found out that the type of INKA with chicory and beet roots has been discontinued. The new type contains only barley and rye.
I’m from Winnipeg and I bought it at Safeway!