I was wondering how long everyone here has been drinking coffee, how people space out their caffeine consumption throughout the day, and the amount of time it took for people to build up tolerance to the caffeine, thus forcing them to consume more and more coffee.
I'm especially interested in people who have been drinking coffee daily for over 5 years. Do you have to drink five cups of coffee to get the same effect that one cup of coffee had on you when you first started?
For people who drink coffee to stay awake at work, do you also drink during the weekends?
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I am more of an Earl Grey tea girl, but, my temp job has free coffee. So I down at least 3 cups of the stuff with 5-7 creams, 3 sugars and sometimes some cocoa powder. I am not sure if I am tolerant yet, I still keep getting lagurchedy in the middle of work.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I drink my coffee with sugar, and carbonation, and in a can labeled "Dr Pepper." I've been a pretty heavy daily caffeine drinker for at least 12 years. Most of the time I do not get that nice caffeine buzz, it's just an ongoing requirement throughout the day. If I wait until later in the day for the first drink, like if I've been up 8 hours or so already, that first sip does give me a little perk and an "Aaaahhhhh, yes" but that may be psychological reaction to the taste, more than the actual caffeine. I do drink caffeinated beverages during the weekend, though probably not as much as I do at work.
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My intake is highly variable, anywhere from 0-4 (12-16 oz.) cups of coffee (or other caffeinated beverage) daily.
First I should explain how I take coffee. IMO, black coffee is unfit for human consumption, and should be treated like the vile sludge it is. Accordingly, I dose mine with 2 sugars (it used to be three, but I cut back) and lots and lots of milk. That's if I start with black coffee -- which usually means someone else brewed it. If I make it myself, it's 2 cups of milk, nuked, mixed with 2-3 scoops of flavored coffee (of whatever brand(s) I currently have on hand). If I'm really tired, and want a bit more of a kick, 1/2-1 teaspoons of instant coffee gets added to the mix.
On a workday, I pretty much always have at least that one cup. Sometimes it's gone within 20 minutes; other times I sip it on and off all day. (On the weekend, or when I'm on vacation, I generally avoid caffeine as much as possible.) I may also have one or more of the following on any given day: A&W cream soda, a second (smaller) cup of coffee, a cup of (caffeinated) tea, (less often) a glass or can of cola. (As well as lots of non-caffeinated beverages, of course.)
I find I need more caffeine to stay awake than I have in the past. However, I think that is more a question of getting less sleep than becoming accustomed to a caffeine intake. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Syn, what is "lagurchedy"? It sounds like one of those hip youngster words and you know I'm too old to keep up with stuff like that.
Enigmatic, usually people need that kick first thing in the morning. It is great that you can have it 8 hours into your day and not have it disrupt your sleep.
the rivka, based on how often I see on the 'rack at 3:00 am, I knew you were a big java drinker. Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Well, I'm pretty careful not to drink anything with caffeine after 6 or so, unless I'm going to be driving. I have enough trouble getting to sleep without that interfering -- as evidenced by my late-night posts.
But yeah, getting out of bed at 6 or 7 the next morning only happens because the coffee is downstairs.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I don't consume caffeine on a regular basis. Don't drink coffee or tea at all, ever. Caffeinated sodas only when I have a headache/migraine severe enough to warrant. Caffeine otherwise does really nasty things to my body that you really don't want to hear about. Also, one can of coke/pepsi after 12:00 noon can keep me awake until 4 or 5 the next morning. No kidding.
My father, on the other hand, drinks up to 36 or 40 cups of coffee a day. Also not kidding. I think it started out when he was in his early twenties and he was using the coffee to keep him away despite all the alcohol he was drinking (4-5 bottles of whisky, rye, rum, or vodka every day - and not those puny bottles, either. I mean those litre and a half or so bottles. I don't drink alcohol - I don't know what size they are.) But then, he also smoked 2 1/2 packs a day, so it could just be his overwhelmingly addicted personality.
My sister needs her coffee in order to function. Personally, I'm glad I never started. I'd hate to have to have a chemical boost to keep me awake. Instead, I'm zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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I've been extremely careful about getting addicted to caffeine. Growing up with my mom, I'm turned off to the idea of NEEDING coffee to wake myself up because eventually you want it to stop headaches, or give you a boost even when you've had a good night's sleep.
That doesn't mean I don't use it every now and then. But when I worked as a barista, I would limit myself to only two shots and it always worked for me because I used it sparingly.
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Caffeine has no effect on me that I notice. I can drink two cans of Jolt cola and go to bed 10 minutes later. (I only tried that once). Maybe that's why I still can't stand coffee regardless of the fact I made it through 5 years of university and everyone promised me it would be my best friend by now.
Chocolate I crave pretty often though. Would that be the caffeine in it or something else? I don't know...
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I'm considered a "heavy" coffee drinker. Most of my family is. Started when I was 14, because I worked at a nursing home where coffee was the only "free" beverage in the breakroom, since I've never liked iced tea. Was never a big pop (soda) drinker.
Have tried giving up coffee a few times. I did give it up when pregnant with my first child (we always take extra precautions with our first, don't we?) Tried to give it up again a few years back when I was thinking of joining the LDS church -- I was deathly sick for 3 days when I went cold turkey off of coffee.
I drink it black. It is the first thing I do in the morning when I get out of bed (except for the restroom trip, of course). Then I often get a cappaccino on the way to work, then at work we have bottomless coffee in the breakroom.
I can drink coffee right before bed and not have any trouble falling to sleep. However, if I have large amounts of coffee in my system at bedtime (like if I went to a coffeeshop and had several cups while conversing with friends, right before going home to bed), then I sleep, but it is more restless and I will usually have bad dreams or very active dreams that make me feel very tired in the morning.
quote: For people who drink coffee to stay awake at work, do you also drink during the weekends?
yes.
Also, when I gave up alcohol 20 years ago and went to AA meetings -- everyone there just drinks coffee. Lots of coffee. Till the wee morning hours as we talk. So that solidified my addiction.
I do drink less in the summer (when it's hot) than in winter. And lately I've been trying to keep myself from having any coffee past the noon hour, in order to cut back. Too much coffee causes heart palpitations.
I've been off coffee for the last two years. But I drank a cup yesterday morning and I experienced one of my most productive work days in recent history.
So I am very tempted to go back to coffee again, but I'm afraid that if I rely too heavily on it, I will become addicted and the benefits will start wearing off as I build up tolerance to the caffeine.
Syn, that's me right now.
<---- haven't had my morning coffee.
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I really, really don't understand the effect coffee has on me. It seems to make me both able to superfocus, seems to make me happier. It does not always happen after drinking a cup of coffee, but there has been a very strong and continual correlation for the two years in which I have been a serious drinker.
Posts: 3060 | Registered: Nov 2003
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Caffiene does nothing for me. In college, myself and friends could drink these coffee concoctions that would give my friends the jitters and keep them awake and able to focus for a long time.
Me, I'd go take a two hour nap instead.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I used to intake quite a bit of caffeine daily, but since I got pregnant obviously that no longer happens. Now I might drink one soda every few days or so. However, I don't detect any "high" from the caffeine, which is kind of annoying. For instance, I drank a pepsi earlier today because I just could *not* wake up. I'm still tired and my house is still a mess.
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I started drinking espresso about 12 years ago. Never drank coffee before that. I start the day...yes, everyday, with a triple nonfat latte. I'ma snob and will only buy organic fair trade, usually Equal Exchange (If Green Mtn is on sale I buy it, but prefer the EE). I am thrilled that a few months ago my church started using EE in their espresso bar. I may have a second latte or a mocha, usually double, in the afternoons. If I'm out and desperate, I'll get Starbucks. I like the coffee, and the way they treat their employees, but not all the locations sell organic drinks.
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Today I had Toxic Sludge. Expresso in Coffee with 7 creams and 3 sugars... I am STILL jittery.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I've never been a big fan for the taste of coffee. My caffeine comes in the form of Mt. Dew once every couple of days or so. My reactions to the caffeine/sugar from the Mt. Dew vary significantly. Sometimes, I get totally fidgety and am at the "bouncing off of the walls" energy level. Sometimes, it does absolutely nothing.
Posts: 1466 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I'm not big on caffeine, though I will have a coffee now and again to keep me up if I'm pulling an all-nighter and think I'll need assistance. I loathe coffee, it tastes foul, it gives my headaches and mild shakes. When I drink I make sure it's as black as coal. If I've mismanaged my schedule to the point that I need to stay up all night finishing things I figure I deserve to suffer.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I decided on a French press for a new coffee maker, and am, so far, not so pleased with the results. I guess I need to buy a grinder now, because the ground needs to be very coarse.
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When you add up my school hours and my work hours I am working something like twelve to fifteen hours a day. So I am a coffee dependent. I drink usually a cup per morning and a couple in the afternoon. I have been a heavy drinker since 17.
Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I very very rarely drink coffee. I'm a snob and won't drink instant, so I will have coffee when I'm out or if someone's making "real coffee." My coffee preference is fair trade dark roast or fair trade decaf - and I always drink decaf after about 7pm otherwise I won't sleep. I do drink a fair bit of tea though - at least one cup a day, lots of milk, no sugar. I don't find it makes a massive difference to me, except that I like the taste and I like to dunk biscuits in it. I sometimes find I'm sluggish in the mornings without it, but I often think that's because I need fluid rather than because I need caffeine - if I've had lots of water then I don't get sluggish.
Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
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I don't drink coffee but I do drink soda. In high school I would have at least 20 ounces of soda a day and often more than 30, all caffeinated. I gave it up cold turkey for a couple of months and it had absolutely no effect. No change in sleeping patterns, no headaches, my body didn't much seem to care.
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Grapefruit juice will decrease caffeine metabolism, so it stays in your system for longer periods of time. I prefer No-Doz over Vivarin, because for some reason Vivarin makes my stomach hurt.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Danzig: Grapefruit juice will decrease caffeine metabolism, so it stays in your system for longer periods of time.
No way! I always have a glass of grapefruit juice in the morning before I pour my coffee. Glad to know my food and beverage budget is getting the most mileage possible!
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Accordingly, I dose mine with 2 sugars (it used to be three, but I cut back) and lots and lots of milk. That's if I start with black coffee -- which usually means someone else brewed it. If I make it myself, it's 2 cups of milk, nuked, mixed with 2-3 scoops of flavored coffee (of whatever brand(s) I currently have on hand). If I'm really tired, and want a bit more of a kick, 1/2-1 teaspoons of instant coffee gets added to the mix.![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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