Giving up coffee

Scott Birdby Scott Bird | January 6, 2006
Filed in Diet and Nutrition | 6 comments

Coffee beansIt’s been a long road. For years I’ve been surrounded by coffee drinkers (they’re not exactly hard to find), have worked in cafés, held meetings in large bookstores accompanied by several cups of espresso, and sampled delights from around the world at various coffee festivals. Enough is enough.

From a daily 8-10 cups a couple of years ago, I managed to work things down to a cup every few weeks. That was a few months back, and within a fortnight I was creeping back up to a routine hit every morning. I could feel the wide eyes and maniacal smile coming on.

Two weeks ago I decided to ditch the coffee - at least temporarily - in favour of green tea. Whilst this is certainly lower in caffeine, I quickly started to drink enough of it to really feel the effect.

Now, finally, I think it’s time to disentangle myself from the strange world of caffeine once and for all. I don’t drink caffeinated drinks for the ‘buzz’, but only because I like the taste of them. In a way this makes it easier; rather than categorically state ‘this is my last coffee’ (which tends to make me want another one). I’ll simply stop drinking it.

Unless it smells really, really good.


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Comments

1
Måns
January 6, 2006 1:00 PM

The way I see it, if (and that’s a big if) coffee actually tasted the way it smells, I’d drink it. But, since the shock of the taste is in such stark contrast to how wonderful it smells, I don’t drink any. But that’s just me… :)

2
Blaine Moore (Run to Win)
January 6, 2006 1:17 PM

Caffeine is a miniscule part of my diet; I may have a piece of chocolate every month or three, but otherwise it is completely absent. Consuming any sort of caffeine usually will lead to my getting a migraine.

3
Chris
January 6, 2006 2:46 PM

I’m not a big coffee drinker, but the in-laws got us a latte maker for Christmas so I have begun making those 1-2 times a week. And I agree that coffee smells great, but then it’s brewed and it smells like something entirely different. Best of luck on breaking this habit.

4
scott
January 6, 2006 3:15 PM

Måns, the smell is the most alluring part of any food (for me at least), and I love the smell of coffee from the beans right up until it ends up in a cup.

The trick now will be walking past cafes, smelling the coffee and just keeping on walking :)

Blaine, I probably have about the same amount of chocolate you do. I never buy it, but I love the taste and get given it occasionally.

Chris, I’m glad you referred to it as a habit. It seems to be in the same company as things like smoking and drinking - everyone knows they’re unhealthy things to do, but they’re socially acceptable. I hope the late maker doesn’t get heavily abused :)

5
steph
January 9, 2006 2:32 AM

I can imagine giving up coffee in Glasgow is easier than a lot of places, due to the prevalence of apalling coffee in that city (and most of the UK). For some reason NZ and Oz seem to have taken the whole thing to heart and produce some mightily nice brews. Wellington is a bit like Melbourne in this case.

P.s. if you are going to quit do it well. Bar 10 on Mitchell Lane (just off Buchannan Street) does pretty much one of the nicest espressos in town, it’s one of my ex-pat hanker hangouts that I have to visit when I’m at home.

6
scott
January 9, 2006 2:18 PM

Steph, that cafe may have to wait a while. No more coffee until I reach 100kg :)

How often you you come back to this part of the world?

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