If you get these physical symptoms from not having coffee then addiction is exactly the right word.
A couple of years ago I used to be. 2-4 cups a day. Then one day I over did and had 4 cups by 9 AM and then a couple of sodas not long after and I got the shakes and an irritated stomach. So I stopped and haven’t had it since. Hot chocolate is my poison now. It’s only 99.9% caffeine free according to this box of Nestle but I’m ok with that .1% of caffeine.
I am very addicted and those of you who post that you can take it or leave it make me want to stab you in the throat! :mad:
luckily, I have had a bunch today so I am not cranky. 
I have 2 or 3 cups of coffee per week, 2 or 3 cups of tea per week. No soda. No Red Bull or other similar drinks.
I have never had a caffeine headache in my life.
You’re right though. It is a gateway drug to chocolate pecan pie.
I get a headache in the afternoon if I don’t have any coffee that day. I only need a cup or so to stave that off, but I usually drink more. It’s a calculated decision, though, since I’m going to eat or drink something enjoyable during the day at work, and coffee has no calories*. Addicted to caffeine? BFD.
Yes.
I went with “current coffee drinker, not addicted.” If I don’t get caffeine, I don’t get a headache. Drinking coffee is certainly a thoroughly engrained habit, however, and I miss it if I don’t get at least one cup in the morning.
I’m a current coffee drinker but I’m not addicted.
I love coffee. I want it all the time. But, I can go days without it and not get headaches or have other ill effects.
As I’ve told you before: I’m happy to make dessert for everyone. I’m happy to give you a teleporter pad at no cost. I will not however pay your teleporter bill. That expense is between you and the Ferengi.
If I don’t drink my customary cup-or-three of coffee, I get a nasty withdrawal headache, so I guess that makes me addicted.
The term addiction is often used incorrectly. Defining it requires understanding two other terms that are used incorrectly, so here goes:
Tolerance: requiring more and more of a substance to get the same effect.
Withdrawal: having physiological effects when stopping a substance.
Addiction: a syndrome usually involving tolerance and withdrawal, and involving misuse of the substance (as in, taking more than is safe because of tolerance, or continuing to use despite problems in your life, work, or health, usually due to avoiding withdrawal.)
So, I have withdrawal, but am not addicted.
I refuse to answer.
I usually term it as a physical addiction if the subject comes up - as it did yesterday among a group of us who were shopping downtown and I said I needed to find a Starbucks around 6pm. I can feel it starting as a tiny bit of pressure on one side of my head and as long as I can get some caffeine in me by then or, preferably before, then all’s well. Luckily, two others in the group were also imbibers, so we stopped for coffee and some local tourism at the former Marshall Field’s.
It feels like my head is in a vice if I get the full-on withdrawal headache. Not fun. I’ve weaned myself off caffeine numerous times by slowly switching to decaf over a couple weeks, but always end up just drinking regular caffeinated again because it’s just a little easier, except for the, you know, must. have. coffee. every day thing. I enjoy coffee in general, so I deal.
I get withdrawal headaches, too, if I don’t have coffee every morning. But it’s also part of my morning ritual. It should be - I’ve had coffee most mornings since I was 9.
I used to think I drank coffee for the caffeine, and I do for sure in the morning. But I switched to drinking decaf by late morning and in the evening, and suffered no ill effects from lack of caffeine. I think I am more addicted to the taste of coffee at this point.
Coffee drinker, addicted, not bothered by it.
I know I’m addicted from the craving I get when I don’t get that caffeine boost in the morning. It’s not a terribly strong addiction: I’m not about to kill anyone who stands between me and that cup of coffee, though I’m sure I’d be more than normally impolite with them. But it’s an addiction nonetheless.
I have to have fasting lab work done every three months.
I have a T-shirt I wear on lab days:
“I haven’t had my coffee yet–don’t make me kill you.”
After I feed the vampire, Hubster and I usually go to IHOP where I get an entire pot of coffee on the table.
~VOW
Eh, sort of but not really.
Caffeine / coffee has very little effect on me physiologically except to make me pee and to somewhat suppress my appetite. It doesn’t wake me up or make me more alert. It sure doesn’t make me jumpy. I can’t get those effects unless I drink gallons of it, which I haven’t done since high school. I don’t get headaches if I skip a day, even after my aforementioned gallons-of-coffee binge in HS.
But I LIKE it. It’s a comfort food, part of my morning ritual. I typically nurse about 24+ oz. throughout the morning, til shortly before lunchtime. I miss it if I have to skip it. It’s not the end of the world, but I do miss it.
So, I suppose you could say it’s an emotional “addiction,” although that would be more a colloquialism than a clinical term. I’m not addicted physiologically.
Not addicted - I just like it.
I drink quite a lot of coffee, in comparison to my peers, but I’ve never had any problems going without - in fact, during a recent dental problem, I was unable to drink coffee for several weeks - I missed the enjoyment of drinking it, but it wasn’t hard to go without.
In fact, I’m not sure I really know what it’s like to be addicted to something - I was a fairly heavy smoker, but just gave up by stopping. If I find myself needing to lose weight, I don’t have any trouble just eating less.
I don’t drink coffee often at all (maybe a cup every other month or so), but lording it over people and thinking that I’m better than them for not being addicted to drinking coffee is an addiction all its own for me 