Ask HN: What's your relationship with coffee?

I make about 16oz of slightly above average strength coffee when I wake up at 9-10am and drink on average about 12oz of it throughout the day until 3pm where I cut it off completely. I've found that this makes my mornings and early afternoons very productive (I think faster and can focus better) but I'm still able to fall asleep at night around 1-2am (as long as I exercise enough and have good sleep hygiene in general). I get a little slow around 4-5pm but overall it's a net positive addiction. I also usually drink much less or no coffee on Sunday and can sleep 9 or 10 hours that night.

I think my genetics mesh well with caffeine. My sister and everyone on my mom's side of the family loves coffee and none of us have any side effects from it. I discovered I liked it in college and it significantly boosted my motivation, grades, and life in general, so I kept with it. I tried going off it for a few months when I thought it was causing me sleep problems, but the cause was something else and I've been happily drinking coffee almost every day since.

Do you sleep well? I ask because almost every person I talk to who "has no problems drinking coffee before bed" also happens to have chronic sleeping issues, including me, five or so years ago.

In my disciplined days I used to have coffee/caffeine only on weekdays. Cannot recommend this protocol strongly enough. Mondays are amazing because the two-day detox is enough to resensitize you to caffeine.

'have drank coffee every.single.day since about 2000. I'll have 2 in the morning - 1 generic maxwell house or folgers and the 2nd a breakfast blend or something else for a little variety. At home, just using a re-usable K-Cup in a Keurig.

If I need to get out of the house a bit, I'll go work at a Starbucks and have a tall there - never more then a tall as I won't sleep well. Or - wherever. Tim Hortons is fine. Panera's is fine. Spent 3 days at the local convention center last week; their coffee was fine. I'm really not picky.

So, minimum 2, max 4 or 5 a day. Always black. I don't love the taste but I do like Starbucks the most. But I don't hate the taste either. I used to use a ton of sugar and milk - that ended about a decade ago now.

I'm with you. Don't like it if it's bitter, and adding sugar is a big no, so I end up drinking coffee maybe once/twice a month.

Drink a cup of tea almost every day though.