Coffee can be a luxury or a vice.
Confessions of a coffee snob
It took 2020 for me to review my relationship with those tasty little beans…
I started the year delving into books on the female endocrine system. Driven by a desire to figure out how to deal with hormonal imbalances after coming off the contraceptive pill for a second time. During this re-education on my biology, I learned of the impact high caffeine consumption can have on our adrenals – it essentially sucker punches them. For more on this topic, check out this blog.
Initially, I was reluctant to give up my coffee ritual. A work trip to Brazil a few years prior introduced me to the glorious experience of taking a break in the day to enjoy a tiny cup of strong black coffee. Returning to London, I immersed myself in the culture of independent coffee shops, learning all the different brewing methods (V60 pour-over remains my ultimate fave) and sampling the entire range by Square Mile.
In other words, I was a devout coffee snob who loved me a daily black Americano.
Combine this coffee habit with my rather British tendency to devour multiple cups of tea daily, and I’m heading straight for caffeine overload before lunchtime.
Time for an intervention
At the height of the pandemic, while isolating with my 90-year-old grandmother, hot drinks became a ritual I returned to multiple times a day to ease my increasing anxiety. It was ironic, given my ‘self-soothing’ technique was only intensifying the issue and causing unrelenting jitters.
This overt reaction to a cup of coffee forced me to take stock of this seemingly innocent habit.
Wondering if you, too, might need to re-address your relationship with coffee? Here is the checklist I used to see if perhaps I was over-indulging…
- Energy crashes
- Rubbish sleep
- Difficulty waking up in the morning (without caffeine)
- Increasing anxiety levels
- Irritability
- Intensifying sugar cravings
Tick, tick, tick... I also felt a general sense of being off, not myself, which was most likely due to my hormones being out of whack (plus dealing with the shitshow that was 2020).
A few reasons to ditch the bean
Think coffee gives you life? I did.
The truth is it provides energy by stealing it from tomorrow. A cup of coffee fools you into thinking it’s an energy boost because caffeine blocks the brain's adenosine (sleepy chemical) receptors, making you feel more alert. When the caffeine wears off, your brain is again flooded with built-up adenosine, leading to a crash.
What’s worse, caffeine has a quarter-life of around 12 hours, meaning some of that afternoon latte is still swirling around way into the early hours, impacting sleep quality and energy levels the next day. It’s a vicious cycle.
Lastly, it’s addictive. This one got me. Caffeine, by all accounts, is a psychoactive drug and, when used repeatedly, can lead to addiction. Now, in the grand scheme of addictions, this one is minor, but I still didn’t want a delectable little bean dictating how I spent my day at 11 am.
If you doubt whether coffee is addictive, you only need to read the comments on any social media post remotely insulting the beverage to see how emotional and defensive we get over it… I mean, ain’t nobody talking about a cup of Earl Grey like that. Or simply start questioning your resistance to cutting it out for a while…
Experiment
At first, the idea of quitting coffee seemed incredibly dull. Instead, I decided to follow Tim Ferriss's example and experiment: try going without caffeine for 30 days.
Here’s how I did it:
- Start by finding a coffee replacement you enjoy. (Green tea, Yerba Mate, and other teas contain caffeine, so avoid them for this purpose.)
- Herbal teams, mushrooms such as Chaga or a blend like Chic & Dandie will work.
- In the first few days, ease up on the caffeine intake—this is essential to avoid withdrawal headaches.
- Start by halving – instead of 2 cups, I had 1 cup for a couple of days.
- Half again, 1 cup of coffee split into ½ coffee + ½ alternative
- First full day with no caffeine. And continue…
After the first week, I noticed massive improvements in my sleep. I use the Oura ring to track my sleep. I’d be lucky to get just over one hour of deep sleep, but without caffeine, I was consistently getting closer to two hours, and I felt it!
Over the month, I noticed I was much less irritable, my energy levels seemed more sustained, and I felt more in tune with my body.
Life without coffee, ever again?
Not for me. You see, the problem isn’t coffee. There’s plenty of evidence a cup of the black stuff has multiple health benefits. The real issue is the amount we tend to consume and the over-reliance on it we develop to get us through the day.
Since my 30-day experiment four years ago, I’ve not returned to drowning myself in caffeine throughout the day. Going without for a sustained period worked as a reset, a pattern interrupt. Afterwards, I found that I could happily enjoy a cup of freshly ground coffee without making it a daily habit.
Now, I indulge when an occasion arises – hanging out with friends, for example, or if I have a deadline that requires a little more brain juice (for those instances, I use a Lions Mane combo).
I re-positioned coffee as a luxury to be savoured.
Find what works for you.
I wrote this simply to tell my story, not to suggest that you do the same.
If coffee doesn’t agree with your constitution and you feel infinitely better off without it, remove it for good. Or perhaps you have no trouble with anxiety or sleep quality, then keep it part of your daily routine.
Wherever you fall on the spectrum of caffeine tolerance, I highly recommend a mini-break from the world’s most-consumed beverage to reset your tolerance and revive your body’s natural energy system.
How you reintroduce it (if at all) is entirely up to you.
Here’s a couple of rules I have in place that you could pull from:
- No coffee after 12 pm
- No coffee within the first 90 minutes of waking up
- Always aim for freshly ground and high-quality
- Enjoy it
And that’s it.
Do you have any coffee break-up tips? Please share them in the comments below. I’d love to hear your story, whether it’s a coffee love affair or a nightmare!
If you decide to do the caffeine-free challenge, tag us in your journey @annbieblends
I’m rooting for you!
With love,
Bernie