4 ms·

Also, for anyone who ever tried to quit coffee, probably knows this— the period of feeling down, useless, slow, and tired after you quit is brutal for about 1-2

by 404mm 3mo ago

Also, for anyone who ever tried to quit coffee, probably knows this— the period of feeling down, useless, slow, and tired after you quit is brutal for about 1-2 weeks and can last months for long-time coffee drinkers. No wonder people feel great after having coffee again. And decaf is not caffeine-free. Decaf coffee still contains about 5-10% of the original caffeine content compared to the same beans but not decaffeinated. And then there’s the tiny sample size :( and no control group. This is worse than useless. This is the kind of waste that news stations will pick and advertise.

felix-the-cat 3mo ago
I needed to quit drinking caffeine and my wife decided to just start transitioning me onto decaf without telling me, each week mixing a little more into the regular coffee bean cannister until it was basically 100% decaf. It worked really well, as I didn't find out I'd been drinking 100% decaf until she told me about it.
- TwoFerMaggie 3mo ago
  I had the same process as you (see my comment) and it was much better than quitting it cold turkey.
TwoFerMaggie 3mo ago
I've quit from daily 3-4 shots of espresso to only drinking it when I feel like it, which is about once every two weeks. The process was mostly without discomfort: I bought decaf beans and started cutting my coffee grounds with 50% decaf. After two weeks, 75% decaf. Then 87.5%, etc. About two months later I stopped experiencing withdrawals if I don't drink any coffee at all. Before I started cutting I would get massive headaches and become irritable if I don't drink coffee in the morning. Now I'm free! I encourage all heavy coffee drinkers try drinking less. At some point, it stops improving your cognitive functions but instead just maintains a mediocre baseline, which I suppose is the same as almost all substance reliance. > In fact, none of the sleep researchers or experts on circadian rhythms I interviewed for this story use caffeine. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/06/caffeine-coffee-tea-invisible-addiction-is-it-time-to-give-up https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/06/caffeine-coffee...
- shinycode 3mo ago
  I noticed from reading threads online that I can drink 8 espressos a day and stop having espresso for several days or weeks. I make my own from ground beans of 18g. It does nothing to me, I never felt a stimulation and only taste guides my need. If I don’t like the taste even offered in restaurant I will refuse to drink it. I don’t know why I’m like that but I never understood the discomfort phases and the stimulation ones either. Idk if I’m missing something
  - bluefirebrand 3mo ago
    I am not a doctor or psychologist or anything so please take everything below with a grain of salt I was like you in my 20s, I could drink a lot of caffeine without any effects at all. I was diagnosed with ADHD around 28. At the time my doctor told me that my high caffeine intake was maybe an unconscious way of trying to wrangle with my ADHD, because the treatment for that is stimulants. Once I started my meds, even a low dose, I basically didn't want coffee anymore. It made a huge difference in my life Not trying to diagnose you with anything, I just always like to tell heavy coffee drinkers my story in case it might help them if they're feeling like something is off
    - dofm 3mo ago
      I just volunteered the same suggestion. I am undiagnosed "inattentive" (but it's as obvious as hell, in retrospect) and I clearly self-medicate with caffeine; I used to have an awful coca-cola problem and now in my fifties I like to take a bit of care over my coffee.
      - bluefirebrand 3mo ago
        Yep, inattentive here too It goes undiagnosed because we aren't hyperactive problem kids in classrooms, and if we're lucky enough to be interested in the subjects we can excel in school If you're anything like me you've been called lazy a lot in your life when really you're just too bored by stuff to engage with it?
dofm 3mo ago
More like 3.75% to 6.6% at most, depending on the bean. But this is not a very good way to think about decaffeination because coffee has to be below 0.1% caffeine by dry weight, regardless of bean, to qualify as decaf, pretty much as a global standard. A mug of decaf has about 3% of the caffeine of a mug of non-decaf coffee, at most. It is negligible as a stimulant. The only people who would need to avoid it are those with an allergy.

by 404mm 3mo ago

felix-the-cat 3mo ago

I needed to quit drinking caffeine and my wife decided to just start transitioning me onto decaf without telling me, each week mixing a little more into the regular coffee bean cannister until it was basically 100% decaf. It worked really well, as I didn't find out I'd been drinking 100% decaf until she told me about it.

TwoFerMaggie 3mo ago
I had the same process as you (see my comment) and it was much better than quitting it cold turkey.

TwoFerMaggie 3mo ago

I've quit from daily 3-4 shots of espresso to only drinking it when I feel like it, which is about once every two weeks. The process was mostly without discomfort: I bought decaf beans and started cutting my coffee grounds with 50% decaf. After two weeks, 75% decaf. Then 87.5%, etc. About two months later I stopped experiencing withdrawals if I don't drink any coffee at all. Before I started cutting I would get massive headaches and become irritable if I don't drink coffee in the morning. Now I'm free! I encourage all heavy coffee drinkers try drinking less. At some point, it stops improving your cognitive functions but instead just maintains a mediocre baseline, which I suppose is the same as almost all substance reliance. > In fact, none of the sleep researchers or experts on circadian rhythms I interviewed for this story use caffeine. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/06/caffeine-coffee-tea-invisible-addiction-is-it-time-to-give-up https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/06/caffeine-coffee...

shinycode 3mo ago
I noticed from reading threads online that I can drink 8 espressos a day and stop having espresso for several days or weeks. I make my own from ground beans of 18g. It does nothing to me, I never felt a stimulation and only taste guides my need. If I don’t like the taste even offered in restaurant I will refuse to drink it. I don’t know why I’m like that but I never understood the discomfort phases and the stimulation ones either. Idk if I’m missing something
- bluefirebrand 3mo ago
  I am not a doctor or psychologist or anything so please take everything below with a grain of salt I was like you in my 20s, I could drink a lot of caffeine without any effects at all. I was diagnosed with ADHD around 28. At the time my doctor told me that my high caffeine intake was maybe an unconscious way of trying to wrangle with my ADHD, because the treatment for that is stimulants. Once I started my meds, even a low dose, I basically didn't want coffee anymore. It made a huge difference in my life Not trying to diagnose you with anything, I just always like to tell heavy coffee drinkers my story in case it might help them if they're feeling like something is off
  - dofm 3mo ago
    I just volunteered the same suggestion. I am undiagnosed "inattentive" (but it's as obvious as hell, in retrospect) and I clearly self-medicate with caffeine; I used to have an awful coca-cola problem and now in my fifties I like to take a bit of care over my coffee.
    - bluefirebrand 3mo ago
      Yep, inattentive here too It goes undiagnosed because we aren't hyperactive problem kids in classrooms, and if we're lucky enough to be interested in the subjects we can excel in school If you're anything like me you've been called lazy a lot in your life when really you're just too bored by stuff to engage with it?

dofm 3mo ago

More like 3.75% to 6.6% at most, depending on the bean. But this is not a very good way to think about decaffeination because coffee has to be below 0.1% caffeine by dry weight, regardless of bean, to qualify as decaf, pretty much as a global standard. A mug of decaf has about 3% of the caffeine of a mug of non-decaf coffee, at most. It is negligible as a stimulant. The only people who would need to avoid it are those with an allergy.