Caffeine, the drug

[The Mollusk]

The DRUG

"Don't talk to me till I've had my morning coffee lmao!!" Yeah you're ADDICTED TO A DRUG there mate.

Caffeine is the lesser of the "why's this stuff legal?!" drugs, second to alcohol. I've been drinking coffee every single day since I was 16, which is almost two decades. I worked night shifts for 6 years and during that time I'd probably have four cups across a 10 hour shift. That's fucking normal to a lot of people, tame in fact. But in the subsequent decade (not through the gritted teeth of hardcore willpower, just naturally) I've whittled it down to just one cup at breakfast and maybe one in the afternoon if I slept bad or work was particularly brutal.

Due to having ulcers in my shitpipe for the last 2~ years I recently cut almost all caffeine out of my life and I'm delighted to say it was easy. No withdrawal, nothing. Turns out I'm just a natural born morning person, get up 5 mins after the alarm goes off, shower, toast, glass of water, ready for the day. There are so many other people however who would struggle with this because they have a much stronger dependency on caffeine, the DRUG.

The other day I had an hour to kill between jobs so I thought I'd do my bit for independent struggling businesses and popped into Costa. I got a medium black Americano, no sugar. Fuck me, I was whizzing my absolute tits off. Got to my job afterwards and for the first hour I was flying through it almost uncomfortably in that sort of eyeballs vibrating and jaw clenching cocaine sort of way, and then I had a really nasty anxiety ridden comedown where I found myself sweating, getting the pins and needles in my limbs that I've so warmly come to associate with a panic attack, feeling completely fucking fried. I got on the tube home, couldn't hack any music on the headphones, just had to shut my eyes the whole way back and pray I got home quickly. A cup of coffee did that to me!

Wretched shite, it can (almost entirely) fuck off. Still like a nice peppermint tea every now and again but I'm certainly not drinking it for the boost.

[Butchers Blind]

I'm one of those people who caffeine has no effect on. I have one decent cup in the morning but don't get that buzz people often go on about. Feel I'm missing out.

[PlanktonSideburns]

It's a drink

[PlanktonSideburns]

Love coffe, but if I over do it for too long, it starts to have an inverse effect, leaving me exhausted and weak for hours after drinking it

What's that all about?

[bgmnts]

Nah I just drink it for the taste. Got a selection of Whittards teas and coffees blends yesterday. It's my one middle class indulgent vice. It's just nice, despite all the negative aspects.

I will admit I am addicted though.

[The Mollusk]

I'm one of those people who caffeine has no effect on. I have one decent cup in the morning but don't get that buzz people often go on about. Feel I'm missing out.

Yeah this is it. The stuff I was drinking at home - usually just Taylor's ground coffee in my nice coffee machine - didn't actually appear to affect me at all, at least not in any noticeable "yeah NOW I'm ready to get stuff done" way. It was just ritual for me really, lovely tasting stuff. But barista coffee is another thing entirely, there's gotta be more caffeine in that stuff right? The FRESH BEAN.

[idunnosomename]

One big bean in there

[Cuellar]

Everything's a drug, though. Chemically speaking.

[QDRPHNC]

One my pet peeves are adults who use "sorry I haven't had my coffee" or "sorry, it's 3pm and I haven't had lunch" or "sorry my blood sugar is low" as reasons to be arseholes.

Everything's a drug, though. Chemically speaking.

Tap had been dogged by questions about drug use and abuse as early as 1967, when at a press conference upon their arrival in America to promote their first hit, "(Listen to the) Flower People," Derek argued that cigarettes and even water could be considered drugs. Nigel added: "You get up in the morning and put water on your face and that's the strongest drug of all. It wakes you up, doesn't it?"

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

used to have a real habit of making a pot of nice loose tea and refilling it a bunch of times through the evening. it's a really nice ritual to have if you're trying to watch movies or whatever and have twitchy/fidget limbs

tried it again lately and i was awake until literally 7am, so overwhelmingly anxious that i was spinning about in my own head reliving all manner of unpleasantries. felt like a living nightmare

fucking caffeine in tea creeps up in you. although i seem to be reacting badly to a lot of things lately. had a fag the other day which immediately triggered an anxiety attack which felt exactly like a whitey, which then lead to a five-day migraine. dead soon

[Endicott]

I never notice a buzz, but a good coffee can really get my bowels moving.

[Buelligan]

I really liked coffee.  Used to have easily ten espresso a day, often more, I relied on them to keep me wired.  On top whizzing form, through a day of cleaning and a night in the kitchens.  Sometimes in my breaks between shifts I'd feel so so tired and a couple or three strong little black cups would make it possible to shrug that off.  But when I got to bed it'd take me ages to fall asleep, no matter how tired I was.  Also, the coffee was expensive, I like good coffee and I am poor. 

So I stopped, just stopped dead.  Piece of piss.  I have English tea in the morning or Russian and then green later in the day.  Sleep like a baby, my heart doesn't wriggle like a trapped bird and I don't have that weird desiccated feeling any more.  Also have more money to spend on cat food.  I miss the taste and the lovely smell.

[imitationleather]

I love coffee, but I couldn't drink a whole one!

[imitationleather]

I do genuinely love it, though. The missus and I get 2kg of high-quality beans delivered per month.

[idunnosomename]

Wait for them to cool first

[Pink Gregory]

It took me until my late twenties, but I am a huge fan now.  I rarely have more than three in a day but it does lift the spirit somewhat.

That being said, a former colleague and I went on a job once, were offered the standard tradesman's cup a joe; so later on he goes temporarily blind.  This fellow we're working for puts 'three or four shots' of espresso in his standard mug of coffee.

Mad bastard.

[Chollis]

I drink 1 or 2 cups on weekday mornings, I enjoy the taste and feel like it wakes me up a bit more. Been doing that for about 10 years. Cheers

[Blinder Data]

like all drugs, the key is to keep your habit in check.

i take a medium-sized stovetop espresso maker of coffee in the morning and switch to tea in the afternoon. that suits me and anyhow, i've read enough bullshit news stories that suggest a bit of caffeine each day is, and i quote here, "medically OK".

if i don't have any coffee, usually a headache will occur. it would be nice to not depend on it but i have an infant child.

once i met a guy at work who said he used to drink ten cups of Nescafé a day, which I find unpalatable. he said he had to give up his caffeine addiction, as he made himself a mug of green tea. "you know there's caffeine in green tea, right?" i said. "really? no i didn't". he drank ten cups a day 😂

[Poobum]

Very fine balance of taking the edge off insomnia induced malaise and having the absolute shits.

[Sherringford Hovis]

Caffeine is the lesser of the "why's this stuff legal?!" drugs, second to alcohol.

I'm a big fan of combining the two. I can't walk past a seedy convenience store or grotty non-chain offie without checking whether they've got Dragon Soop lurking in the fridge.

[Emotional Support Peacock]

I've come across many people who complain about anxiety and sleeplessness but refuse to consider if their caffeine consumption may be a factor. Numpties. It does feel like the growth of those complaints has mirrored the increased consumption of caffeinated drinks.

That's obviously not to say this applies to all anxious people or insomniacs.

[non capisco]

A few months ago before restrictions were lifted and it was just me in the office I decided to buy a Vietnamese iced coffee from a place on Warren Street, then went back to the office and sat on my own vibrating like a fucked washing machine and clicking my fingers like an epileptic zazou for about half an hour until it wore off. The coffee tasted great but it was a waste of stimulation.

[Janie Jones]

I've come across many people who complain about anxiety and sleeplessness but refuse to consider if their caffeine consumption may be a factor. Numpties. It does feel like the growth of those complaints has mirrored the increased consumption of caffeinated drinks.

Like all drugs, caffeine is a good servant but a bad master so it's great for a lift when you want it but yes, beware the length of time it takes to leave your system.

A coffee or red bull 15 minutes before a race can knock 20 seconds off my 5000m time. Caffeine is a legal drug in world athletics.

[The Mollusk]

used to have a real habit of making a pot of nice loose tea and refilling it a bunch of times through the evening. it's a really nice ritual to have if you're trying to watch movies or whatever and have twitchy/fidget limbs

Nice, I wonder if caffeine free stuff can offer the same remedy. I'm on my feet a lot during the day and when I sit down in the last couple hours before bed I get restless legs and it does my nut in.

Trouble is I am not a fan of getting up in the night busting for a piss either so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[JesusAndYourBush]

I'm one of those people who caffeine has no effect on.

Me too.  I drink it for the taste but it does nothing for me whatsoever.  I don't get any buzz from it and can have a coffee right before bed with no effects whatsoever (except needing to piss sometime in the night because I stupidly had a big drink just before going to bed!).

Interesting article here saying that you can be a fast or slow metabolizer and those who inherit a fast gene from both parents aren't affected by caffeine, the body just gets rid of it too quickly before you get any effects from it.  On the plus side it says fast metabolizers have a reduced chance of a heart attack.

[JaDanketies]

I can't allow myself to get into the routine of daily caffeine use, and even when I do, I stop at noon. Daily coffee intake really exacerbates a terrible cycle, where at bedtime I'm not wound down, and I feel inclined to drink too much alcohol or get stoned off my tree so I can relax and get to sleep at 1am - 2am. And this means that the next morning I feel groggy and I've got to have a few cups of coffee to get started. And it continues.  Also our son's in bed by 8pm and my fiancee's in bed at like 10pm, and I really don't relish spending 3 or 4 hours by myself.

I've started to really get into tea these days. I love how boomers offer every household visitor a cup of tea. I hope my generation can maintain this tradition. A nice cuppa tea. I believe there is some caffeine in tea but it doesn't have a noticeable psychoactive effect for me.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Don't drink coffee or tea or caffeinated drinks, seems to be alright doing this, alright cheers

[Beagle 2]

I've got flu, it's horrendous, but on the plus side I haven't had any caffeine in three days. It had got to a ridiculous level where I was having five coffees before lunchtime on a weekday, then spending most of the rest of the afternoon weeing and twitching.

Not sure whether I'm having any withdrawal as I feel so awful anyway but I guess I should try not to immediately get back on it when I'm back to full health.

[JaDanketies]

Not sure whether I'm having any withdrawal as I feel so awful anyway but I guess I should try not to immediately get back on it when I'm back to full health.

When I was about 20 and on the Christmas uni break, I went to the GP and then to A&E because I was getting really severe headaches throughout the day. Didn't even realise that it was caffeine withdrawal, or even recognise that I'd abruptly stopped taking an addictive drug.

[nugget]

I drink ~5 cups a day and don't really notice any effect, but I suppose that could mean I'm just too accustomed to it. Maybe I should try going without for a day some time to see if I get any withdrawals, and also if it helps with my current inability to fall asleep without being half-cut or medicated. I don't think I've ever done this in my entire adult life.

I'm drinking my last cup of coffee for today from the office coffee machine, it's a supposed to be one of the good ones that grinds the beans fresh, but it always tastes really bland to me because we buy big bags of shit-tier beans. Honestly, I don't know why I bother. I love a good quality coffee, but I'd much prefer a nice cup of builder's tea to this dross.