Do you drink it explicitly to help you work harder? Is it an essential part of your life and work? Do you ever wish you drank less? And do you or would you consider using any other stimulants to boost your productivity?
Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
1–10 of 34 posts
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#22 to 5 cups a day, I'd say. I drink it because I like it, more than to help me focus - the addiction and tolerance more or less balance out explicit benefits I think. I'd like to cut it down just a little, I think.
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#33 cups a day. I enjoy coffee. It is not essential.
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#43 cups a day before. Not really using to boost but i just like coffee. Now i am more on green/chinese tea than coffee.
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#5I'm too embarrassed to say the amount...it's measured in pots.
I know I need to cut down but whenever I do the withdrawal effects (physical and habitual) distract me from working.
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#6I don't drink any coffee. That said, two pots of tea are not unheard of.
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#7I don't drink coffee, and I don't have any other habitual sources of caffeine. However, I'm 22, and my morning de-blearifying process may not yet need to be as heavy-duty as that of an older person.
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#8I once drank three cups a day, if not five or six. Always very thick, almost enough to strip the paint off of a battleship, occasionally with cream but usually black. That started sometime in college - first or second year. Didn't have much exposure to caffeine before that so the addiction was quick.
Fast forward a decade, and the anxiety from the caffeine was getting really bad, I couldn't sleep, and the coffee (among other things) was eating into my stomach. So I quit caffeine entirely. The headaches. The "not right" tingling. The other withdrawal symptoms usually associatted with hard drugs. I was convinced I was going crazy for a spell. But in time that all went away.
Now I drink zero cups a day and sometimes feel like a zombie. Unfortunately even a small trace of caffeine (like in rich chocolate or an occasional small cup of something caffeinated) triggers a relapse. I do occasionally fall face-first off of the wagon. But the withdrawal symptoms are nowhere near as bad as they were the first time.
When I'm "on" caffeine, I feel like I'm sharper. Mental tasks seem to be easier, and maybe they are. But the overall feeling from being (mostly) off the stuff is better. I can sleep again. I don't get the shakes as I'm coming down from the "high." But somedays... I just feel like I'm not here. Like I still need that hit.
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#9I don't like coffee (I like the smell though).
If I need caffeine I take an energy drink. Not all energy drinks are good though, most of them give me a headache after a couple hours.
5-hour energy is ok (doesn't give you a headache), but the taste is bad.
When I was in the Bay Area, I found Jamba[0] to be a good one: tastes good, and doesn't have the bad headaches.
In Calgary, Canada I couldn't find Jamba anywhere (yet), but BeaverBuzz[1] seems ok, though it doesn't really taste that good.
Re: Ask HN: How much coffee do you drink?
#10Stimulants might not "boost your productivity" — if you're slightly tired they'll make you irritable, if you are having problems sitting still they may make things worse — so while you may get a rush of energy that doesn't always result in productivity.