I used to drink a lot of coffee, eventually settling on the SkullCrusher brand, which I loved, for my single coffee of the day; My morning coffee.
One day, I decided that I would quit, and what followed was around 8 days of the worst headache I have had in a long time.
Now, I wake full of energy and feeling sharp.
The smell of coffee makes me want one, but the dullness and headache are good deterrents.
The brand you chose for daily consumption advertises "3X MORE CAFFEINE - NEVER SLEEP AGAIN."
In this instance I would honestly say that this choice of coffee, with so much caffeine, is a large contributor for why you had such a withdrawal. Your body probably ended up with a dependence to some degree because that's so much caffeine that it can't sorta just ignore it or manage around it.
More moderate consumption is more tolerable and often doesn't produce the same negative effects after you stop, though for some people it still does.
It's probably fine to have a coffee when you're craving it, couple times a week. Perhaps stick to a typical bean rather than nuclear-grade like you're used to? :P
[flagged]
And yet he answered
Since no one has spoken about matcha yet, I am here to provide my two cents and my experience with caffeine and matcha.
Caffeine does benefit people with certain forms of brain chemistry, and for folks like me, it definitely helps. I used to have double or triple espressos several times a day, and on other days, I would go for cold brews and similar drinks. I've spent years doing it. While it helped me immensely focus and get work done, it also put me on a fast track, I guess. It's probably not a good thing to keep going with. Somewhere it felt like it was putting extra mental load on me than usual.
Again, this doesn't apply to everybody. Recently, I stumbled upon matcha. It's not the entry-level matcha or matcha mixed with a lot of additives like sugar or cream; it's just matcha with milk or an alternative milk like oat milk or almond milk, etc. It has a surprisingly nice effect.
It's almost like the same effect as caffeine, but without making me feel jittery. At the same time, I'm also able to achieve the focus I used to get with coffee. I recommend that you folks start out and try it out and see if matcha helps you as well. Just make sure you buy ceremonial grade, which is available at a decent price on Amazon. It's ridiculously, crazily overpriced in stores like Safeway and Whole Foods, though.
It is the L-theanine that works its magic in matcha. Too much can cause some nausea or diarrhea, but consuming it two or three times a day in moderate amounts can go a long way for many people. It also doesn't have any other side effects and is a good drink in general. Beyond that, there are other alternatives like chamomile tea, passionflower tea, etc. Some of them work for some people, while others don’t. It's up to you to keep trying and cycling between these wonderful gifts that nature has provided.
How the tea leaves were grown and processed is a better guide than ceremonial grade which is a marketing term, not something you'd see in JP. I tend to switch between tea, coffee, yerba mate, and tisanes (rooibos, herbal). I've been favoring the focused energy of tea for workouts lately, coffee energy flames out faster imo. From my calcs, tea is a better deal per serving than coffee. Climate change is going to hit coffee and mate particularly hard so enjoy it while it lasts.
Rooibos:
How did it work out for you? I tried so hard to get into Red Rooibos tea and it didn't seem to produce any effects for me ( and I also blame myself for it because I was drinking a ton of other things with it at that time)
Rooibos is noncaffeinated, I just love it for its malty, brisk taste and the fact oversteeping doesn't make it bitter.
Black tea feels like that for me. A nice cup of Earl Grey in the morning is a good way to start the day when I don’t want to be locked in.
Do you have any specific recommendations?
Matcha has caffeine in it though?
It does, but the L-Theanine has an almost neutralising effect on the more jittery and frenetic aspects that caffeine can bring. It leaves you feeling what I would describe as more focused and calm, rather than alert and anxious
Yes, it does but not in high quantities like coffee. It gets complemented perfectly with the L-Theanine content in it.
This combo generally works well on folks that get benefits from coffee.
For me coffee is all about the taste. I'm having my coffee lab with two grinders, a V60, a scale, and Cafelat Robot to brew the best possible coffee I can get. We have multiple good coffee roasters in our city, and I'm mostly getting very light roasts with lots of complex sugars in the bean. I drink two cups a day: one filter coffee in the morning and one espresso after lunch.
I can't imagine drinking bad coffee only for the caffeine.
You can drink good coffee for the caffeine, too. I think anyone (not necessarily saying that's you) saying it's only about the taste and has nothing to do with caffeine is fooling themselves. The reason you were able to trick yourself into liking this bitter stuff is because it gets reinforced with caffeine.
I drink my morning cup of decaf every day because I like the taste. I've always drunk decaf, as I never liked the caffeine buzz. I guess maybe you could argue I'm still doing it for the small amount of residual caffeine. But if I skip it for several days, it doesn't effect my mood or energy level in any way I can detect.
Fair, if you've always only drunk decaf that would be an exception.
Of course I like the caffeine. But I tend to not drink the coffee if I don't like its taste.
I quit too. I’ve since found on random days where I do have a coffee I feel slightly numb to everything so can procure more physical effort, but I slightly shake uncontrollably and also have worse sleeps. So I almost never have a coffee (or caffeine).
I've had that once (caffeine withdrawal headaches), we had mediocre coffee at the office for ages, then they got a new contract and we got these Italian real bean grinding things. I uh, had double espressos a few times a day.
Just so you know, you could have done that gradually with decreasing amounts every day...
I drink coffee 3-4 times a month. No headaches.