Who drinks coffee?

[child of 2]

What made you start drinking coffee, and what would you do if someone takes away your coffee?

 

I managed through college without coffee, because I refused to drink it. Not only did I think it was unhealthy, I thought that if I did start drinking it, I would develop a crutch, and be even more disorganized and tired, which could be dangerous too. I don't want to be one of those people who become dependent. Plus, it tastes like shit to me, even with sugar dumped into it.

 

I'm just curious about others' opinions on this.

[DerpTastic]

I'm an energy drink junkie, but recently have given it up to save some money. There's also free (crappy) coffee in the side room at work, I've started a recent "project" to drink some everyday until I'm accepting of the taste, as I also DESPISE the taste of ANY coffee.

[Eigen]

Not saying this is you, but I'm amazed at the number of people who shy away from coffee, and then drink carbonated drinks, regular or diet sodas, etc. 

 

Coffee has actually been shown to be good for you in moderate amounts, and caffeine has very few of the negative effects its known for unless you drink it in excess. Its even been shown to not be noticeably dehydrating until you're around 6-7 cups. 

 

I've been drinking the stuff for quite some time, but I keep a relatively moderate intake. I drink about 1-2 cups per day, and I drink it cold-brewed to cut down on the acidity. 

 

Coffee (no sugar), fresh juices, teas (no sugar) and water are pretty much all I'll drink (and, of course, beer and hard liquor), with milk very occasionally on cereal. 

[toasterazzi]

I started drinking coffee in high school because my theater director built a small cafe next to our theater so we could earn some extra money for shows. I've tried almost everything on a typical cafe menu at least once. I only drank it occasionally from then throughout most of college. When I started student teaching near the end of undergrad, I started to make instant coffee at home as a pick me up, but I didn't really get into daily coffee drinking until I started grad school last year. I've found that it really helps me start my day, and the fact that my dept. has free coffee throughout the day is an added bonus. Plus, I bought a Keurig last year, and it's made it even easier for me to get rolling in the mornings.

[Eigen]

Also, for those who are interested- health benefits of coffee:

 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/this-is-your-brain-on-coffee/?_r=0

 

http://lifehacker.com/5986506/the-science-behind-coffee-and-why-its-actually-good-for-your-health

 

Area  couple of good general articles, with links to some of the studies that back them up. 

[rising_star]

I'm not a coffee drinker. I do drink tea, but mostly the noncaffeinated stuff. I've been like this since the first year of my MA and it's fine. I think it's because I tend not to drink any non-alcoholic beverages other than water unless it's to treat myself. If you don't want to drink coffee, then don't. You can do a PhD just fine without it.

[TakeruK]

When I was  younger, I used to drink it very sparingly (like a few times a year) so I can get that caffeine boost when I need/want it. I mostly did this because I saw my parents needing a cup every morning to fully wake up and I didn't want to be that dependent on coffee. Now, I drink it much more often and I realise that it's not as addicting (to me anyways) as I thought it would be. I usually drink some if I feel especially sleepy at some point during the day, if it's a coffee break in a long day of meetings or talks (e.g. conferences), or if it's a social thing, or if I feel like a hot drink. 

 

I do find that after a period of time where I drink a lot of coffee (e.g. a week long conference), I tend to drink more coffee for a few days afterwards but then I slowly ease back to my usual amount, which is maybe 2-3 cups a week. I really like the smell of coffee though! I like the taste of some coffees, but I usually like to add milk and sugar.

[jmu]

I'm a coffee snob. At home I drink Equal Exchange (currently rabble rouser) and if I'm out with friends I only drink from a roaster I trust. This results in mesuggesting a place I can get Sweetwater roasts.

I walked through the snow at a conference to get good coffee once. The stuff at the hotel was terrible and at the conference location all they had was Starbucks. Blech.

[somethinbruin]

I'm not a coffee drinker. I do drink tea, but mostly the noncaffeinated stuff. I've been like this since the first year of my MA and it's fine. I think it's because I tend not to drink any non-alcoholic beverages other than water unless it's to treat myself. If you don't want to drink coffee, then don't. You can do a PhD just fine without it.

 

You and me both. Coffee was never my thing, although I cut myself off from a serious Diet Coke dependency after my first year of grad school. I was drinking maybe 4 20 oz. Diet Cokes a day, and I just didn't like the way I felt and that I needed them throughout the day for a pick me up. So I quit cold turkey a week after the semester ended. I was a raving bitch for about a week, and I got headaches, but those went away in a few days as well. What really surprised me were the cravings--they lasted for months. I would see or smell (yes smell) a soft drink and a switch would flip in my brain. It was weird.

 

Now that I'm caffeine free, I only drink water (with the occasional decaf tea), and I can see the benefits. My skin is better. I have more energy. Without real changes to my workout routine I've lost ten pounds. 

 

I've had people tell me you can't do a PhD without caffeine/coffee, but I'm making it work just fine.

[MissMoneyJenny]

You and me both. Coffee was never my thing, although I cut myself off from a serious Diet Coke dependency after my first year of grad school. I was drinking maybe 4 20 oz. Diet Cokes a day, and I just didn't like the way I felt and that I needed them throughout the day for a pick me up. So I quit cold turkey a week after the semester ended. I was a raving bitch for about a week, and I got headaches, but those went away in a few days as well. What really surprised me were the cravings--they lasted for months. I would see or smell (yes smell) a soft drink and a switch would flip in my brain. It was weird.

 

Now that I'm caffeine free, I only drink water (with the occasional decaf tea), and I can see the benefits. My skin is better. I have more energy. Without real changes to my workout routine I've lost ten pounds. 

 

I've had people tell me you can't do a PhD without caffeine/coffee, but I'm making it work just fine.

 

I'm at your pre-qutting Diet Coke stage, although I only drink 2-3 12 oz cans a day. But I know the feeling of cravings. 

 

I don't drink coffee myself, and I am too lazy to make tea as often as I would like to drink it. I'm hoping doing my graduate studies in England will help me get more into tea drinking and less into soda drinking. 

[somethinbruin]

I'm at your pre-qutting Diet Coke stage, although I only drink 2-3 12 oz cans a day. But I know the feeling of cravings. 

 

I don't drink coffee myself, and I am too lazy to make tea as often as I would like to drink it. I'm hoping doing my graduate studies in England will help me get more into tea drinking and less into soda drinking. 

 

My advice is to just do it. Carry a bottle of water around with you everywhere when you first quit, so that you can trick your brain by drinking more water. After about four days, a fog will lift and you will feel a wonderful clarity. The cravings I managed with mindfulness (I live with a health psychologist), which basically means acknowledging the craving/feeling, controlling it through breathing/relaxation exercises and understanding what it is, and then moving on. Being mindful of the cravings was very, very helpful. When I first stopped using caffeine, I would have several cravings a day. After about two weeks, cravings were down to about one a day (usually in the afternoon), then every few days, then maybe one a week, until a few months later when I realized I no longer had them. 

 

PS: I am so full of jealousy that you're studying in London. It's my favorite city in the whole world. Have fun!

[FestivusMiracle]

I drank it a few times as a kid just to feel like a grown up, but I started drinking it regularly in college.  Now I'd kinda consider myself a bit of a coffee snob, because I buy whole beans and grind them with a hand grinder before brewing each day.  I've also really gotten into brewing an extra strong pot, letting it chill overnight, and mixing with a good bit of milk for iced coffee the next morning (no sugar).  I'd say my primary reason for drinking coffee is taste, as opposed to drinking it for the caffeine effect.  A lot of caffeine seems to just make me antsy, instead of keeping me more focused and awake.  

 

Right now I've been drinking eight o'clock's colombian...cheap, easy to find, and a pretty solid taste without being too dark or burnt tasting... 

 

What kinds of coffee do all of you drink?  I need some suggestions on good brands to try!

[i.am.me]

In my home, and to some extent in the homeland, coffee is drank as a part of...eating...because it's warm and tasty, and if you add ice, its cold and tasty. I grew up drinking coffee for taste so I drink it for comfort rather than for caffeine.

 

I also drink lots of tea, but I only like jasmine green tea daily. I tend to stay away from juices and carbonated beverages because those are calories I don't need.

 

I am not a coffee snob---I love instant coffee and lots of different kinds. In fact, when I travel overseas, I alway make sure to sample the variety of instant coffee and ramen noodles lol (that's why I worry about excess calories).

[child of 2]

maybe I just never had good coffee, but the ones I've had taste bitter. And when they cool down, they taste even worse.

 

also, I heard that coffee can give your body the illusion that you're awake, when you really aren't that awake.

[Psykir]

Hehehe I was a tea-drinker till 2011 (here in Russia, tea is much more popular). Then I worked for some months for one company, where we had a coffee machine and nice coffee. Then Starbucks has been opened near my place (spent a lot of money). FINALLY bought a coffee-machine and surprisingly a little coffee shop has been opened in my district. SO 2 cups of coffee every morning!

[Eigen]

maybe I just never had good coffee, but the ones I've had taste bitter. And when they cool down, they taste even worse.

 

also, I heard that coffee can give your body the illusion that you're awake, when you really aren't that awake.

 

If you want to drink cold coffee, you don't want to brew it hot and then cool it down. Hot water extracts a lot more of the bitter & acidic compounds from the grounds, and they're very pronounced when you cool it. 

 

It's much better to "brew" the coffee overnight (10-12 hours) in ice-cold water. You cut out about 70% of the acidity of the resulting coffee, and I find it distinctly less bitter. 

 

But bitterness is kind of a part of the flavor of coffee, just like it is with dark beers. If you don't like it, no real reason to force yourself to drink it. 

 

I don't know exactly what you mean by your last paragraph- caffeine is a stimulant, surely, but the sensation should equally apply to anything with caffeine in it (coffee, dark teas, soda, dark chocolate, etc). And I've never found it to be that strong of a stimulant either. 

[Eigen]

You and me both. Coffee was never my thing, although I cut myself off from a serious Diet Coke dependency after my first year of grad school. I was drinking maybe 4 20 oz. Diet Cokes a day, and I just didn't like the way I felt and that I needed them throughout the day for a pick me up. So I quit cold turkey a week after the semester ended. I was a raving bitch for about a week, and I got headaches, but those went away in a few days as well. What really surprised me were the cravings--they lasted for months. I would see or smell (yes smell) a soft drink and a switch would flip in my brain. It was weird.

 

Now that I'm caffeine free, I only drink water (with the occasional decaf tea), and I can see the benefits. My skin is better. I have more energy. Without real changes to my workout routine I've lost ten pounds. 

 

I've had people tell me you can't do a PhD without caffeine/coffee, but I'm making it work just fine.

 

Are you sure it's the caffeine you're seeing the effects from losing, and not from the cessation of drinking diet cokes? A lot of the synthetic sugars are *highly* addictive, and of dubious good for your health. 

 

I wouldn't necessarily assume it's being caffeine free that's resulting in the changes, but rather being diet soda free. 

[socialequity]

Starbucks medium blend + cream brulee creamer + whipped steam milk to create foam on top = AMAZING!

[jmu]

What kinds of coffee do all of you drink? I need some suggestions on good brands to try!

I order my coffee from Equal Exchange or, if I run out, I buy Sweetwater. A lot of cities have places that roast there own and they are almost always worth checking out. It's also a good way to find out which regions and roasts you like. I tend toward Central American Full City Roasts but occasionally go Vienna.

[somethinbruin]

Are you sure it's the caffeine you're seeing the effects from losing, and not from the cessation of drinking diet cokes? A lot of the synthetic sugars are *highly* addictive, and of dubious good for your health. 

 

I wouldn't necessarily assume it's being caffeine free that's resulting in the changes, but rather being diet soda free. 

 

Oh I'm sure it was some combination of both. If I had to guess (in a completely unscientific way) I would say that my more immediate side effects (headaches, grumpiness, lethargy) were more from the caffeine withdrawal. The longer term cravings were probably the crappy pseudo-sugars. 

 

Either way, I'm glad I stopped. Nothing in soft drinks is good for you. It's all crap.

[Eigen]

Yeah, just curious. 

 

The reason I mentioned it is that artificial sugars have been linked to all of those immediate symptoms, and I know a lot of friends who've linked them with the caffeine in diet soda, then later found out it was the sweetener. 

 

Interestingly enough, for the average american, the majority of the antioxidants you will take in over the course of your life come from coffee, making it one of the biggest contributors to healthy aging. 

[St Andrews Lynx]

Like Eigen, I'm one of those unrepentant coffee-guzzling scientists. The first cup of coffee I ever drank (in my 3rd year of university) contained no milk or sugar: ever since I've taken my coffee black, preferably as an espresso (this American preference for filter coffee I struggle with). I don't smoke, drink alcohol, eat meat or take recreational drugs...so I figured I needed 1 half-way decent vice! I agree with Child of 2 that coffee does taste bitter - but it's something your tastebuds get used to.

 

I'm partial to a mocha in winter time, and do drink sweetened ice coffees in hot weather. As a Brit I'm used to drinking lots of instant coffee, which usually tastes more palatable in the UK.

 

The extent of my addiction depends on how close I am to a free coffee machine. Working in industry I was bad because there was a machine just outside my office, I'd be drinking 4 strong coffees a day. That said, I have a strict "No coffee after 4pm" rule, and try to drink more tea in the afternoon. If I go without coffee for a few days I usually feel sleepier, but no headaches or major withdrawal symptoms. 

[zapster]

Any kind of coffee (including lots of instant coffee), at any time of the day or night, with or without milk, hot or cold.....but always without sugar or any kind of sweetener.

[wildviolet]

What made you start drinking coffee, and what would you do if someone takes away your coffee?

 

I started drinking coffee (lattes, mochas, espressos, etc.) in my senior of high school because coffee shops were just starting to sprout up around my town, and it was the hip and cool thing to do (I have a dream of owning my own coffee/book/soup&salad shop in a hip and cool college town in my retirement). Also, I love the smell of coffee!

 

Of course, I got addicted to it. I have at least one cup a day, preferably first thing in the morning. I use a French press at home and try to buy whole beans that I grind at the store. If I don't have my cup of coffee, I get a mild headache. But, I don't need to have more than one cup, and I don't drink any other beverages that have caffeine (the exception is an occasional cup of tea in the afternoon but, more often than not, I select an herbal/non-caffeinated tea).

 

Generally, I drink only water, coffee, tea, wine (sometimes cocktails and beer), and sometimes almond/soy milk because I can't have cow's milk. When I was 20, I decided to stop drinking soda. Since then, I drink soda only once or twice a year. I will admit that I don't see a dentist very often... the last time that I did, though, he was shocked that I still had all my teeth (no wisdom teeth had to be pulled out) and that they were in fairly good condition (just some plaque build up). I attribute the condition of my teeth to a combination of daily brushing, good genes (from my mom's side), and no soda. The coffee/tea hasn't stained my teeth yet--I don't use anything stronger than a "whitening" toothpaste, yet they seem to be fairly white.

 

Now, as for my primary reason for drinking coffee... I need it to wake me up! When I was a classroom teacher, my students noticed my lack of energy when I did not have a cup of coffee. Luckily for them, I lived close to a drive-through Starbucks that opened at 5 AM every morning!

Edited July 7, 2013 by wildviolet

[guinevere29]

I have slowly progessed through all the stages of coffee-loving. Started with frappucinos as an occasional dessert indulgance, then started drinking it everyday because it was free at my internship. I didn't really get into it though until I bought a Keurig and that's when I started the spiral into obsession. LOVE my Keurig.