On July 21, 2024 I stopped intake of caffeine of any kind.

I’ve been a coffee drinker most of my adult life. Cup or two of coffee every morning when I woke up, some other form of caffeine delivery in the afternoon. Lattes, black iced teas from Starbucks or Peets when I was on the road.

Years ago, I used to take a break from coffee for a month every year, but it had been a long time since that happened. I knew it was going to suck but it seemed like something I should try.

Initially I got the headaches as one would expect, the low energy, the feeling that something was missing. I quickly realized that one of the somethings that was missing was a warm drink in the morning. That “something warm in the morning” was just as much a habit as the intake of the caffeine. So I purchased some herbal teas (no caffeine) and started having a cup or two of those in the morning.

The amazing thing about this initial period was how calm I felt throughout the day. My blood pressure dropped significantly as a result of taking caffeine out of my diet, and I was falling asleep easier at night, sleeping better, and waking up much easier in the mornings. The calmness has persisted.

Once I was over the bulk of the caffeine withdrawal, no more headaches etc, I started to notice how low my energy levels were. This concerned me a bit, was it going to stay like this forever? I’m happy to report that this is no longer a “thing” in my day. I don’t noticed any dimished energy levels in my day, in fact I’m very steady at a level seemingly consistent with (and perhaps a little higer than) the caffeinated version of me.

There’s been a few additional benefits that have come out of this as well:

  1. I tend to just get up and go now, there’s not really a morning ritual of waking up. I just get up and get started with my day.
  2. I went camping recently and didn’t have the ritual of making coffee to contend with, in fact, I skipped tea one of the mornings because I was focused on getting out and fishing. I expect this will pay bigger dividends while backpacking as it’s less stuff to bring and clean-up when I’m in the backcountry.
  3. I really only drink water anymore, coupled with me stopping my alcohol intake at around the same time as my caffeine intake I’ve just been drinking water, tea, or electrolytes with no sugar in them.

Overall, the experiment has been a success thus far, and I haven’t found a compelling reason to start drinking any form of caffeine, nor do I have cravings for it anymore.