I’ve always thought of decaf as being similar to non-alcoholic beer. You don’t drink it for the taste, do you?
Yes, the brand I buy tastes good.
[quote=“guangtou”]Muzha Man, thanks for the decaf tip. Think I may be needing it soon…
I went off the wagon on Saturday (just an experiment mind you), and had a brew before doing my weekend buxiban performance. Never been so fired-up. SO complained that I was talking too quickly and failing badly in my attempts to be humorous. Felt good to be grinding my teeth again.
Saturday evening came and I crashed badly, but then couldn’t get to sleep when I finally hit the sack. No coffee this morning, though I feel like shite and could do with the pick-me-up. Getting jittery when I walk past the jug. Seems decaf is the only way to go now.[/quote]
So weird reading all of this. I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my life. I’ve tasted it once or twice…didn’t like the taste so didn’t finish it. Plus, I hate the idea of becoming physically dependent on something.
Funny thing is I can relate to the above post. Since I used to do “speed” when I was younger. The more you do any type of amphetamine from coffee to crystal meth the less effect it will have on you…and soon enough you need to take it just to feel normal. And that’s pretty sad.
If I drink a cup of coffee after lunchtime, I can pretty much forget having a restful sleep or a good day the next day. If I drink more than a cup in the morning, I am asking for stress and anxiety. That said, I still need the morning caffeine. If I forget to drink coffee for more than a couple of days, I am asking for a headache. This is the only time I get headaches.
When I was younger, I used to ride for many K’s on my bike. I could drink a thermos of green tea a day.
I think the main draw for coffee for me is actually all the cream and sugar that I dump into it.
I don’t like being physically dependent on anything, either.
Wow, I’m pretty similar to cackyrackythingymajig.
One cup of coffee in the morning, or I cannot wake up. Also, missing that cup gives me a horrendous headache mid-afternoon.
I cannot touch caffeine after mid-afternoon, or I will not sleep. I can actually feel the signs as I lie in bed at night, trying in vain to get to sleep, as OCD creeps in (I actually SING numbers in my head. Go figure).
Scientists found out that coffee isn’t that bad for your health, drink it in moderation and it’s even healthy because it contains lots of … flavonoids/antioxidants … 3 cups a day should do it … but how big should the cups be … mug size?
Coffee (good) in Taiwan is overprozed as everything else is overprized that’s good and imported … Taiwanese doesn’t have a clue they are taken for the money … :s
Can’t… 
Coffee = Life
All this talk of giving up has made me antsy. I’m off to get a tall Americano down my throat as soon as possible.
I have a wake up cup, a noontime cup, and a cup between my Chinese class and my Private Chinese class. I am afraid to try to kick it. How would I control the headaches?
[quote=“SuchAFob”]I have a wake up cup, a noontime cup, and a cup between my Chinese class and my Private Chinese class. I am afraid to try to kick it. How would I control the headaches?[/quote] Eat ice cream really fast. 
I’ve tried to kick coffee a few times. I’ve only ever managed to cut down though. The most sucessful times have been when I’ve just occupied my time with more active activities.
I’ve fallen asleep with a coffee cup in my hand. It wasn’t the caffeine that woke me up.
Coffee is one of my absoloute favourite flavors. So yes.
And I also drank NA beer for about 3 years after I quit drinking.
I also drink coffee for the taste (the caffeine too by now). I’ve been drinking coffee since before I went to kindergarten, and I remember making my own coffee with breakfast before I headed off to school. When I was a secretary I had the coffee pot right next to my desk and I was the one who made the coffee every day, all day. I was also the one who drank the most… 8-10 cups a day if you include the cups at home. I only cut back when I found myself expecting my first child, and then it was still 2 cups in the morning.
I’m now up to 3 cups every day, and if I add one more, I have a hard time sleeping at night. The other guy counts number trying to get to sleep; I lay awake at 2am outlining safety plans in my head, what to do in the event of a fire, major earthquake, war, etc. :loco:
[quote=“braxtonhicks”]I also drink coffee for the taste (the caffeine too by now). I’ve been drinking coffee since before I went to kindergarten [/quote] Seriously, wow. Most parents wouldn’t start their kids on coffee that early and most kids just wouldn’t like the taste.
Yes, I know. I’m one of those statistics you read about… had very little supervision as a kid. It’s a wonder how I turned out halfway normal.
My youngest, now two, has a taste for coffee. Even before she ever got a taste by sneaking someone’s coffee cup off the kitchen counter, she must have liked the smell because she’d try to get my coffee no matter where I put it. I’m sure the taste is in my breast milk a little bit, but my kids have always been good sleepers so it’s not a very big concern.
Edit: Just so we’re clear, I do not give my kids coffee.
But I confess to giving her two chocolate covered coffee beans last week.
And that coffee mug off the kitchen counter episode happened when our helper was picking toys up off the floor and had her back to her for just a couple of minutes–she must have been planning it because it involved bringing a stool from the bathroom to the counter!
Ya know, maybe this isn’t the best place for it since the thread is about kicking coffee, but this is the H&F forum, and I ran across this interesting article in today’s Guardian…
Drinking lots of coffee saves liver from alcohol damage, research finds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,1796223,00.html
Actually, looking back over this thread, maybe it would be nice to have a general “coffee thread” in the food forum. Or is there already such a thing? I only found this, a few praises of and diatribes against Starbucks, and awhere can if find the best coffee / cafe.
[quote=“smell the glove”]Drinking lots of coffee saves liver from alcohol damage, research finds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,1796223,00.html
[/quote]
Well, this makes me feel better. Coffee drinking is one of the habits I refuse to give up even though it is not supposed to be a healthy thing to do.
[quote]
The findings, conducted by researchers at the Kasier Permanente, in Oakland, California, are thought to be the largest study to look at the inverse relationship between coffee and cirrhosis. The link was first reported by researchers at the same institute in 1993 but this new study - of 125,000 people over 22 years - “solidifies the association”, Arthur L Klatsky, the lead author of the study, said.
Dr Klatsky, who was involved in the earlier research, added: “[color=blue]Consuming coffee seems to have some protective benefits against alcoholic cirrhosis, and the more coffee a person consumes the less risk they seem to have of being hospitalised or dying of alcoholic cirrhosis. We did not see a similar protective association between coffee and non-alcoholic cirrhosis.”[/color]
The researchers, whose findings are published in the US journal Archives of Internal Medicine, followed more than 125,000 health plan members who underwent a medical examination between 1978-1985 and who, at the time, had no diagnosed liver disease. Participants filled out a questionnaire detailing how much alcohol, coffee and tea they drank daily.
By the end of 2001, 330 participants had been diagnosed with liver disease, including 199 with alcoholic cirrhosis - caused by the consumption, each day, of three or more units of alcohol.
Researchers - who only counted those who had been hospitalised or died because of the disease - found that the more coffee a person drank the less likely they were to develop alcoholic cirrhosis.
Drinking tea had no effect, suggesting the ingredient that protects against cirrhosis is not caffeine.
Blood tests conducted on the 5% of drinkers who consumed the most alcohol confirmed that coffee drinkers were less likely to have high levels of enzymes in the liver - a key indicator of liver damage.
Dr Klatsky added: "Even allowing for statistical variation, this shows there is a clear association between coffee consumption and protection against alcoholic cirrhosis.
[color=blue]
“This is not a recommendation to drink coffee. Nor is it a recommendation that the way to deal with heavy alcohol consumption is to drink more coffee. And while there is very little evidence that moderate coffee drinking - say up to four cups a day - is harmful to the health, that’s not the message we want to get across. There is a lot of harm caused by heavy drinking other than liver damage.”[/color]
Dr Klatsky said that if caffeine were the key protective ingredient, he would expect to have seen some protection for heavy tea drinkers.
“We can’t answer why this has happened,” he said. “The value of this study is that it may offer us some clues as to the biochemical processes taking place inside liver cells that could help in finding new ways to protect the liver against injury.”
Cirrhosis, caused by thickening of the normal tissue, causes progressive damage and impaired function of the liver. There are numerous causes including viruses, obesity or genetic problems - but excess alcohol is the main culprit.[/quote]
(Not sure if this is the latest thread about quitting coffee (let me know if there is a newer one.)
Have made some changes in my daily routine lately. The last two days I decided to stop drinking coffee and see how that goes. Well, it went until about an hour ago. 36 hours of not drinking coffee and the headaches just made me cave and drink half a cup. Took 20 minutes for the headaches to go away. I am happy. Not because of the painless head, but because now I have some confirmation that coffee has played with my head for some while now. The headaches in the recent past, I thought had to do with food allergies or something. Maybe they were all related to a drop in caffeine levels after all.
Now that going cold turkey seems to be unnecessarily painful, I will try to wane myself off the coffee slowly by decreasing the amount I drink. Let’s see how that goes.
Who has stopped drinking coffee recently and how did it go? Always like to know others’ experiences.
By the way, I still love drinking coffee, but I want to know what it’s like to go without for a while. Like the increased energy levels, better sleep, etc.
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There is a reason no one posted in this thread for fifteen years. Good coffee is delicious!
Now if you want to ask me to quit drinking bad coffee, that I can go along with.
Guy
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Sure is. Just curious about the other side of the fence. Maybe the grass there is even more delicious. 
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