4 ms·

For anyone reading this and wanting to get off caffeine, but finding it difficult because of withdrawal symptoms like headaches, here’s a trick that makes it ea

by krrrh 3y ago

For anyone reading this and wanting to get off caffeine, but finding it difficult because of withdrawal symptoms like headaches, here’s a trick that makes it easier. If you’re drinking a morning coffee you’ll be getting 100-200mg of caffeine. But even a small amount of caffeine will take almost all the edge off withdrawal and prevent headaches. A 75g dark chocolate bar at 70% will give you 20-25mg of caffeine. Costco sells boxes of Lindt chocolate bars that meet this criteria. Eat one in the morning instead of coffee (the sugar and theobromine seems to help as well). Once you’ve done this for a week it’s easy to just stop because most people won’t get withdrawal symptoms from 20mg.

w4ffl35 3y ago
Cold turkey. I do it all the time. Not hard but yes I get a headache. I don't understand people who have to ease their way off a substance.
- cseleborg 3y ago
  There was a joke like that, it went something like: "Quitting smoking is so easy, I've done it so many times already!"
  - w4ffl35 3y ago
    Joke works if the plan is to quit permanently. I like my substances, but its still good to take breaks.
taude 3y ago
I typically weigh my coffee, either for making espresso (20g) or for pourovers (25g). Last time I quit, went like this: a) move from two espressos -> one espresso for a few days. Once steady on a single 20g espresso... b) move from 20g espresso to 20g pouroer. c) each day take a few grams off the pour over. The last time I made one I used 5 mg beans, and then quit pretty easily the next day. This taper method made it totally doable for me, no headaches. The hardest part was going from 2 espressos to 1, mostly because of the habit. I substituted in herbal tea for my second cup....
- quotz 3y ago
  Why americans drink 20g espressos is beyond me. Thats a triple espresso in european standards. A single espresso is 7 grams. Having double espresso in america would basically translate to 6 espressos in europe. I moved from Europe to New York City a few years ago and I always ask the baristas how many grams is their espresso and they dont know. I ask them if the single espresso drink they have is essentially dopio espresso and they have no clue what i am talking about. And on top of that it costs 4$ for an espresso + taxes which equals to around 4.50$. Coffee culture in NYC is subpar to any major european city, and I am afraid to even find out hows it like in other cities in the US! Even the shit third world european country I come from (in the balkans) has better coffee culture than NYC! Then they're wondering why nobody can sleep here!
  - averageRoyalty 3y ago
    20g yield or dry? In Australia, the convention I've seen is broadly 10-12g dry with a 2:1 ratio. I normally go a bit higher if pulling a ristretto. I don't believe my portafilter would perform very well with 7g.
    - quotz 3y ago
      Dry. 7 gram ground beans. Although now its moving more to the side of 9 grams but the smallest portafilter pot is the espresso solo.
      - taude 3y ago
        I just put my smaller portafilter on my espresso machine and made a 9g pour. (I'm on a taper right now anyway, so this was a good move).
    - taude 3y ago
      20g dry. I was 18, but I have a bigger basket.
  - taude 3y ago
    Yeah, good point. I didn't even realize that they make e61 baskets as small as 6g (I just googled). I don't know, though, about size. I get espressos in europe a lot. Last time I was in Paris, most my espressos seemed like american size ones. Maybe because I was drinking mostly third-wave coffee shops? When I was in Italy awhile ago, the espressos were definitely small 7-10g singles that cost 1€.
DavideNL 3y ago
> "75g dark chocolate bar at 70%" > "Eat one in the morning" That's like ~ 35gr. of fat in the morning of which ~ 20gr. saturated fat. Ouch...
- astrange 3y ago
  That's a great time for fats. Definitely better than the usual breakfast approach of giving yourself an insulin spike.
astrange 3y ago
You could try decaf plus tyrosine/phenylalanine supplements as well. Theobromine is another stimulant, so I'm not sure it helps.
- m463 3y ago
  decaf does not mean caffeine-free (usually < 5%, but not always)
mirekrusin 3y ago
I found switching to green tea easy. Got infusion jug and still have morning routine to do it, it's actually much more convenient to have it at the desk to refill. You can also control how intense you want it - with water temperature and quantity - as even very light version is great to sip through the day.
euroderf 3y ago
FWIW... in my 30s, caffeine withdrawal yielded headaches, but beginning in my 50s (IIRC) it no longer did.

by krrrh 3y ago

w4ffl35 3y ago

Cold turkey. I do it all the time. Not hard but yes I get a headache. I don't understand people who have to ease their way off a substance.

cseleborg 3y ago
There was a joke like that, it went something like: "Quitting smoking is so easy, I've done it so many times already!"
- w4ffl35 3y ago
  Joke works if the plan is to quit permanently. I like my substances, but its still good to take breaks.

taude 3y ago

I typically weigh my coffee, either for making espresso (20g) or for pourovers (25g). Last time I quit, went like this: a) move from two espressos -> one espresso for a few days. Once steady on a single 20g espresso... b) move from 20g espresso to 20g pouroer. c) each day take a few grams off the pour over. The last time I made one I used 5 mg beans, and then quit pretty easily the next day. This taper method made it totally doable for me, no headaches. The hardest part was going from 2 espressos to 1, mostly because of the habit. I substituted in herbal tea for my second cup....

quotz 3y ago
Why americans drink 20g espressos is beyond me. Thats a triple espresso in european standards. A single espresso is 7 grams. Having double espresso in america would basically translate to 6 espressos in europe. I moved from Europe to New York City a few years ago and I always ask the baristas how many grams is their espresso and they dont know. I ask them if the single espresso drink they have is essentially dopio espresso and they have no clue what i am talking about. And on top of that it costs 4$ for an espresso + taxes which equals to around 4.50$. Coffee culture in NYC is subpar to any major european city, and I am afraid to even find out hows it like in other cities in the US! Even the shit third world european country I come from (in the balkans) has better coffee culture than NYC! Then they're wondering why nobody can sleep here!
- averageRoyalty 3y ago
  20g yield or dry? In Australia, the convention I've seen is broadly 10-12g dry with a 2:1 ratio. I normally go a bit higher if pulling a ristretto. I don't believe my portafilter would perform very well with 7g.
  - quotz 3y ago
    Dry. 7 gram ground beans. Although now its moving more to the side of 9 grams but the smallest portafilter pot is the espresso solo.
    - taude 3y ago
      I just put my smaller portafilter on my espresso machine and made a 9g pour. (I'm on a taper right now anyway, so this was a good move).
  - taude 3y ago
    20g dry. I was 18, but I have a bigger basket.
- taude 3y ago
  Yeah, good point. I didn't even realize that they make e61 baskets as small as 6g (I just googled). I don't know, though, about size. I get espressos in europe a lot. Last time I was in Paris, most my espressos seemed like american size ones. Maybe because I was drinking mostly third-wave coffee shops? When I was in Italy awhile ago, the espressos were definitely small 7-10g singles that cost 1€.

DavideNL 3y ago

> "75g dark chocolate bar at 70%" > "Eat one in the morning" That's like ~ 35gr. of fat in the morning of which ~ 20gr. saturated fat. Ouch...

astrange 3y ago
That's a great time for fats. Definitely better than the usual breakfast approach of giving yourself an insulin spike.

astrange 3y ago

You could try decaf plus tyrosine/phenylalanine supplements as well. Theobromine is another stimulant, so I'm not sure it helps.

m463 3y ago
decaf does not mean caffeine-free (usually < 5%, but not always)

mirekrusin 3y ago

I found switching to green tea easy. Got infusion jug and still have morning routine to do it, it's actually much more convenient to have it at the desk to refill. You can also control how intense you want it - with water temperature and quantity - as even very light version is great to sip through the day.

euroderf 3y ago

FWIW... in my 30s, caffeine withdrawal yielded headaches, but beginning in my 50s (IIRC) it no longer did.