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When I've read about people quitting caffeine, it seems like half of people see no difference and half of them feel like their lives have improved. I'm kind of

When I've read about people quitting caffeine, it seems like half of people see no difference and half of them feel like their lives have improved. I'm kind of thinking of stopping, only because it bothers me if I go on a trip or something and have to get caffeine to avoid headaches. Also, part of me wonders how caffeine is influencing me overall, if it's doing things I'm not aware of. To be honest, the reason why I'm reluctant to try it is because I tea and coffee occupy this place that I can't quite find a replacement for, which is something interesting, low-calorie, and not a depressant. By "interesting" I might mean "artisanal" or "varietal", but I'm not even sure I mean anything that specific: I just mean, there's interesting variety, differences in products to try. Coffee and/or tea also are pretty low calorie if taken black (like I do), and unlike things like wine or beer, which are also artisanal in nature, don't act as depressants per se. If there was something like coffee or tea, with lots of variety and skill involved, that kept me from consuming calories from other sources, and didn't have any kind of psychopharmacological effects, I could go to that. But I am not aware of anything like that. Maybe I just need to rethink my perspective on it and what I could do to address those issues in other ways, but there are a lot of benefits to caffeinated beverages aside from the caffeine.

morsch 5y ago
Herbal teas? I'm sure there's a subculture of artisinal herbal teas. You can even grow your own.
- barbazoo 5y ago
  Even black teas have far less caffeine than coffee and quite a bit of variety. If I were to quit coffee I'd start there.
meristohm 5y ago
Since the water’s hot for my partner’s coffee, when I’m practicing going without caffeine I add a little lemon juice and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) powder to a cup of hot water, per Gandhi advice from a book he wrote in his 20s (?). It’s too hot and acidic to quaff, and while I still miss coffee with whole milk, this is a workable substitute that allows me to have wonderfully engaging dreams as part of a full-night’s sleep.
ahD5zae7 5y ago
I'm trying to get into japanese green teas. They are plenty artisanal for me, at least the good stuff is. Temperature and time control when brewing is close to coffee pour over brewing, maybe not quite there. Water quality matters just as much - I'm adding minerals to osmotic filtered water, just as I did with coffee. When done properly they taste wonderful, although this is subjective of course. Caffeine content is much lower than coffee, unless you go into matcha tea, which is even more artisanal and expensive (per gram). And if you love spending money, making it can be even more expensive than coffee (per gram, not per cup) - it's not really difficult to spend over $30 for a 50 gram bag. And some even say it's healthy. tl;dr: try japanese green coffee.
- milkytron 5y ago
  I highly recommend genmaicha if you haven't had it yet. By far my favorite green tea.

morsch 5y ago

Herbal teas? I'm sure there's a subculture of artisinal herbal teas. You can even grow your own.

barbazoo 5y ago
Even black teas have far less caffeine than coffee and quite a bit of variety. If I were to quit coffee I'd start there.

meristohm 5y ago

Since the water’s hot for my partner’s coffee, when I’m practicing going without caffeine I add a little lemon juice and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) powder to a cup of hot water, per Gandhi advice from a book he wrote in his 20s (?). It’s too hot and acidic to quaff, and while I still miss coffee with whole milk, this is a workable substitute that allows me to have wonderfully engaging dreams as part of a full-night’s sleep.

ahD5zae7 5y ago

I'm trying to get into japanese green teas. They are plenty artisanal for me, at least the good stuff is. Temperature and time control when brewing is close to coffee pour over brewing, maybe not quite there. Water quality matters just as much - I'm adding minerals to osmotic filtered water, just as I did with coffee. When done properly they taste wonderful, although this is subjective of course. Caffeine content is much lower than coffee, unless you go into matcha tea, which is even more artisanal and expensive (per gram). And if you love spending money, making it can be even more expensive than coffee (per gram, not per cup) - it's not really difficult to spend over $30 for a 50 gram bag. And some even say it's healthy. tl;dr: try japanese green coffee.

milkytron 5y ago
I highly recommend genmaicha if you haven't had it yet. By far my favorite green tea.