I was considering quitting coffee in 2022 to see what caffeine free would feel like. But then in December I toured a coffee plantation in Colombia and got schooled on grinding beans, and using multiple brew methods (including moka, it’s wonderful). Immediately/ironically after I returned from vacation my drip maker died and I had to switch to my French press, using fresh beans. Then, my wife gave me a pour-over and a Turkish briki pot for Christmas… ain’t no way I’m quitting coffee this year.
Caffeine-free was good for me. It opened my eyes to the fact that even though it's totally unregulated and socially acceptable even in the squarest circles, it's a helluva drug. I now understand that the majority of us are walking around drugged up, trying to interact with other drugged up people, and we're so used to it we never even consider that a lot of our everyday problems are a direct result of our habit.
Once I was off of it, I realized the potential for it to impact your psyche in a big way. Too much makes me anxious and irritable, and the effect is compounded and turned into an ugly cycle when you factor in disrupted and shortened sleep cycles. Lord help you if you wind yourself up with caffeine (maybe throw in some sugar just to be thorough), and then wind yourself down with ethanol. Rinse and repeat uppers and downers...perfectly legal and respectable-like.
For me, realizing it's a drug and not a food item was a positive. I now treat it like a drug. Just like you shouldn't drink on a bad day to cope, I try not to drink caffeine to power through a stressful day. I don't make decisions when I'm coffeed up, and I take my emotions and thoughts with a grain of thought. I try to make one really good cup early in the morning, enjoy the taste and the buzz, and give it a rest. That's a big change from my office junky days where I'd blow through 2 or 3pots of whatever I could get my hands on a day plus cokes/redbulls/sweet tea and wonder why I hated everything all the time and couldn't sleep.
I'm still more or less a cup a day guy. I enjoy my altered state. It's legal, and it doesn't really hurt anybody but myself. Wife found out that the cons outweigh the pros and really doesn't drink it regular anymore. I'd encourage everybody who uses it habitually to detox and take a moment to appreciate the humor of a society that can declare a War on Drugs and then fight that War while on drugs, and never even register it. And see how life looks like with the stimulant goggles off. If nothing else, it'll give you a new appreciation for your favorite substance.
