Inspired by a recent thread about supercharged caffeinated lemonade, I got curious about the caffeine habits of others. About how much caffeine do you consume regularly? In what form? What time of day? With what consequences, if any? Any concerns about your consumption?
I enjoy a home made cold brew every morning. I drink about 16 ounces of cold brew coffee, with a heaping amount of half and half, chilled with ice every morning. That translates to 200+ mg of caffeine in that drink. It’s ultra delicious for me first thing in the AM, but if I drink it later in the day, it just makes me a bit queasy. It does wake me up, but if I stick with just that amount at that time I don’t note other side effects. I avoid caffeine in beverages in general except for that morning dose. Over that amount will also make me jittery, and may cause an increase in my baseline PVCs (benign heart palpitations) along with making sleep tough at night.
On rare occasions I will have an additional caffeine dose, an afternoon espresso, IF I am near an outlet that makes a great espresso. Since they’re few and far between in my area, that happens maybe once every two or three months. When I consume that, I don’t notice untoward effects.
The Mrs. behaves similarly. She has about 8 ounces of our home-made cold brew in the AM, and that’s usually it for her.
I take a 100MG tablet/pill of caffeine with water on the way to work. This is around 6:45AM or so.
At around 2:30PM, I have about 50-75MG of caffeine again. Pepsi Zero Sugar if I have some, another small tablet if I don’t.
I feel no negative side affect. I sleep fine. I like using pills since I know the exact level of caffeine each time instead of kind of guessing, which is what I did with coffee.
I am supposed to stop caffeine because it was causing pretty severe heart palpitations that the doctors could not find any other reason for. However, I love a chai and sneak one every couple of weeks. My boss is Indian and brings me the good stuff.
Quitting caffeine helped me realize I was a lactose intolerant, which was another plus. I honestly thought I had undiagnosed IBS, but it turns out it was just my daily latte causing issues. I sleep a lot better without it, and I also have less general anxiety. I think I am actually more sensitive to caffeine than most.
More or less whatever I consume from the chocolate I eat. While I consume a not-insignificant amount of chocolate, I don’t think it works out to all that much in the way of caffeine.
But I also don’t drink any coffee or soda, at all, ever. I seem to have a bit of an allergy to coffee and I really dislike carbonation. In my entire life, I’ve had probably a half a can of soda and a few sips of coffee.
My caffeine comes from 40+oz of iced tea every day. My Stanley mug holds 40oz, minus lots of ice. I refill it during 3rd period every day. So maybe 200 mgs/day.
I don’t have an absolutely fixed habit. I would say 3-4 days of the week I have about 200mg caffeine total. The rest I have none, or very little. Today, for example, instead of getting an energy drink (200mg) at the gas station, I was craving salt, so I got a V8 and a half cup of coffee when I came home (that’s what was left from the pot my wife made.) Yesterday I had nothing. The day before I had the 200mg energy drink. So it probably ends up being around 800mg a week.
That said, there have been days where I just can’t summon any energy, so I end up getting 400mg max for the day, and it just doesn’t seem to pull me out of the fatigue. I’m one of those people that could have a cup of coffee before bed and fall asleep without a problem. I really do wish it would give me a bit more pep.
I kill the alarm clock, roll out of bed, weigh myself, then put scoops of strong dark Columbian coffee into the basket of the coffee-maker to brew while I’m showering. Two large mugs for me, two for my partner. That’s generally it, but sometimes I’ll have a mug or cup of tea late in the evening (lapsang souchong or constant comment, most often). Less often, I’ll get a cup of coffee in the evening, especially if it goes with dessert, on the rare occasions when we have one, or as an ingredient in a mixed drink (e.g. an Irish coffee or equiv).
Had a heart attack recently. However, no one told me I couldn’t drink caffeine, so I continue with my lifelong tradition of having a large cup (12 oz) of instant coffee in the morning before going to work (or getting on with the day on weekends).
M-Fri I only drink coffee at work. 12oz when I first get in (0700ish), then a second - usually smaller amount (8oz ish) between 0800 and 1000. I’m usually done with coffee by 1000. On the rare occasions I have a third cup I can really tell the difference, sometimes feeling a little light headed.
Sat & Sun I have an 8oz cup with breakfast then usually a second 12oz cup an hour or so later (almost always in the winter, less so in the summer).
I do drink a bit of diet soda in the evenings, but I try to stick to the no-caffeine versions.
About 35 years ago, when I was in my mid 20s, I worked as a courier and it was the 1st time I drank coffee regularly. I’d stop at a convenience store and get a larger-ish cup (16oz ?) when I started my route. On the days I picked up a 2nd cup I could definitely tell a difference in my driving - a little faster/aggressive and much more likely to try to make a Yellow Light.
I make a pot of pour-through coffee in the morning, and I get two or three cups out of it before the family finishes it off. In the afternoon I’ll sometimes make a Keurig coffee rather than brew another pot, and usually I have one after supper. So, 3-5 cups per day.
When I was working, a coffee was almost always beside me.
1½ liters of diet soda at a minimum. Somedays twice that much. @100mg - 200mg
In addition to that, between a half gallon and a gallon of tea during the course of a day. @300mg
No coffee. Ever.
I was told a few months ago by my psychiatrist to stop caffeine, and I eventually did a few weeks ago, with the exception of a moment of weakness last week in which I had a Coke. I’m sticking to caffeine-free soda and water.
I set the coffee maker to come on at 5:45 am, so that when my alarm goes off at six the coffee is ready and waiting. I used to make a full 12 cup pot, my wife would have her two mugs and I would take care of the rest. And I used to drink it black. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve had to cut back. I make about 2/3 of a pot now, which is enough for us to have two cups each, and I’ve started adding half and half to mine. Sometimes on days when I go into the office I will have a third cup from the Keurig machine.
I pick up a regular Dunkin XL coffee on the way to work. I generally refill it once from the coffee club pot in the main office, and that is it for coffee for the day.
I like coffee a lot. But I hate being dependent on it, and caffeine withdrawal for me is horrible. So, after several years of “no-caffeine summers” and taking weeks to recover, I’ve pretty much settled on drinking decaf most days. If I’m out in the morning I might drink a caffeinated coffee here and there and that’s fine, as long as I don’t do it too many days in a row.
So I regularly drink however much is in 11 grams of decaf beans.
I have temporarily stopped drinking coffee, because I am in my sixth week of an apparently endless sequence of colds, sinus and bronchial infections, laryngitis, and on and on, and the medicines I’m taking recommend against caffeine.
But when I’m healthy, my typical routine is (a) one shot of espresso with breakfast at home (around 6:30 am), and then later in the morning (b) a café au lait at the office (around 9:30). Very, very occasionally I might have another coffee with lunch.
I never have coffee after lunch. I used to be able to have it until like three or four in the afternoon, but as I’ve gotten older I find it now disturbs my sleep. So there’s a cutoff.