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I quit caffeine

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Re: I quit caffeine

#231

Post by serf »

fleddr wrote: post #223
xcambar wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coffee snobs are leagues ahead in terms of snobbery of any other snobbery I know. And I am from a wine heavy culture, so born and raised in snobbery. And your comment highlights everything that can be irritating about coffee enthusiasts. Every paragraph is quote-worthy. Almost climactic. I don't know what has triggered such an elite-like culture in coffee but it never ceases to amaze/amuse.

It's pure boredom. Compare it to BBQ culture. In simpler times, one would have a cheap metal grill and throw some raw meat on it. By the time it almost turns black, you'd eat it. Now people have a design baking skirt, a machine that can grill 50 things at once, temperature management, a slow cook schedule lasting days, hipster recipes for the sauce, and this doesn't even begin to describe what is now a "science". Bac…

>The only meaningful difference with high-end coffee is that those have a softer, smoother taste. Less bitter. That's it.

respectfully disagree, and i'm not even a coffee snob -- just a life long addict who doesn't analyze, just drinks.

Wine tastes like shit to me, but i'd never be so sure that my interpretation of it was correct that i'd try to explain why wine snobs exist. I understand there all wines have nuances that I may miss as someone who is inexperienced with wine and without a preference towards it.

Coffee , more so than most other plant products, has a wide variety of tastes. How could it not? It's a plant grown in varied areas with varied problems, varied soils, and then roasted or treated in varied manners.

We disagree, I understand I won't convince here, but I can confess my own experience : coffee is a spectrum of flavors , and not everyone has the tongue (or time) to notice -- but to dismiss it as 'pure boredom' is something I absolutely disagree with.

You don't need a 12kUSD espresso rig to notice that there are more than two taste profiles in the world of coffee.

Re: I quit caffeine

#232

Post by meristohm »

derbOac wrote: post #185
carlgreene wrote: post #112

I quit caffeine about 8 weeks ago for mental health reasons. It has been TREMENDOUS so far. I'm still hesitant on writing about it because it's such a new experiment. When I was on caffeine I was on a lot of it. Probably around 400-600mg a day combining my pre workout with my daily coffees. It is one of my favorite drugs and I loved taking it. This was the last 15 years of my life. I became quite irritable over the p…

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'…

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.

Re: I quit caffeine

#233

Post by savanaly »

daxfohl wrote: post #38

I'll be the contrarian. I was a pot per day drinker and quit for three months and felt no different, just missed the coffee. I quit the quit and I'm back to a pot per day, feeling much better.

Same for me but with sugar. Quit for a week, felt no different, went back to my usual (not particularly high) consumption. It's a bummer too because I had read so much strong criticism of sugar on HN and about how much it affects us without us realizing it, I thought maybe I'll actually feel something better which would be exciting! Nope, just bored because I had to cut out most of the interesting (to me) food in my life.

Re: I quit caffeine

#234

Post by bduerst »

niklearnstodev wrote: post #166
wbobeirne wrote: post #57

I catch a lot of flak for all the money I waste by buying coffees at coffeeshops, but it's my way of rate limiting. If I want a cup of coffee, I first have to make myself presentable, go for a walk, and pay a cost. I also feel a bit weird about going back to the same place twice in one day, so that usually dissuades a follow-up trip, or at least makes me go on an even longer walk. Caffeine plays with everyone differe…

I have a similar habit getting similar flak, but with another added reason. As a remote worker, going to a place every day (often leading to small interactions with others) helps replace replace some elements of working from an office (commute, small chats with other frequenters, the getting presentable ritual you mentioned, etc). I'll append a gripe to this and say that employers should allow "work-from-home budgets…

I've heard nicotine addiction described the same way by more than one person.

It's not about the cigarettes, it's about the smoke break, which gets you away from your desk, outdoors, and socializing with strangers.

Re: I quit caffeine

#235

Post by throw10920 »

It's always interesting for me to read posts like this by (former) caffeine addicts (soda anyone?). I'm so sensitive to the stuff that if I have a full cup of coffee in the morning, or a soda in the afternoon, I sleep poorly that night - so I have to avoid caffeine as much as possible.

Is this what normal people feel like when I tell them that I got addicted to a video game?

Re: I quit caffeine

#236

Post by bduerst »

patwolf wrote: post #20
llimllib wrote: post #2

I didn't quit caffeine, but I cut down massively by keeping it in a Zojirushi mug that keeps it hot all morning instead of drinking from a regular mug. Because it stays hot, I just sip it, and that way I only drink one mug in the morning and occasionally one in the afternoon, instead of the 3 or 4 mugs I would drink previously.

+1 for Zojirushi. I do wish they made something shaped more like a traditional mug than a travel mug. I've tried various brands of insulated mugs, and at most they let me stretch out my cup of coffee to 45 minutes. With a Zojirushi I can make a cup last hours.

How does it compare to a Yeti?

Re: I quit caffeine

#238

Post by maxk42 »

As you get older you find you can't quite handle things the same as before.

I take 48 hours off of caffeine each week, and limit my daily dose on the days I make use of it. Perhaps one day I'll quit entirely. I can definitely feel it when I overdo caffeine in a single day. (Usually in the form of tea - I'm not much of a coffee drinker.)

Good luck and godspeed. If anyone else is worried about their general level of anxiety and/or caffeine intake I'm happy to answer questions.

Re: I quit caffeine

#239

Post by maxk42 »

savanaly wrote: post #233
daxfohl wrote: post #38

I'll be the contrarian. I was a pot per day drinker and quit for three months and felt no different, just missed the coffee. I quit the quit and I'm back to a pot per day, feeling much better.

Same for me but with sugar. Quit for a week, felt no different, went back to my usual (not particularly high) consumption. It's a bummer too because I had read so much strong criticism of sugar on HN and about how much it affects us without us realizing it, I thought maybe I'll actually feel something better which would be exciting! Nope, just bored because I had to cut out most of the interesting (to me) food in my…

I'll throw in my two cents as someone who quit sugar in the past six months: I wasn't really free of the addiction until more than two weeks had gone by. Since then I lost 20 lbs without exercising and I just have these periodic moments in the day when I feel a huge surge of energy. After a couple months I cut my total carb intake to Anyway, a week just annoyed the f outta me. I'd give it two or three weeks at least. It takes that long to cut the cravings I didn't even realize I was having.
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