I’ve given up coffee.
Ok so that’s not entirely accurate; I’ve given up my daily habit of drinking coffee.

I’ve tried to do this on many occasions and recent efforts have been abysmal failures. At the first sign of stress or tiredness I would give into temptation and order that flat white. And the next day I figured I’d already failed so I might as well order another one. Well not this time. I was determined to break the habit for good (again).

My decision to give up coffee was based on a few factors:
-the headaches each morning before my daily hit were painful and annoying (and I think they were getting worse)
-I couldn’t think clearly before I’d had my coffee and even afterwards, if I’d had my coffee later than usual
-I felt exhausted within hours of having my coffee - what goes up, must come down
-I am trying to get pregnant at the moment and there is a lot of evidence suggesting high levels of caffeine is counter-productive for those trying to conceive (not just those already pregnant)

I’ve read a lot of articles on tips for giving up coffee but they all seem to be written by people who drink ridiculous amounts of coffee on a daily basis - I’m talking seven-plus cups here - whereas I rarely drink more than one. Two if I’m particularly tired or busy but I often pay for it with a racing heart and shaking hands. Not a pleasant experience.

I knew I’d need to try a different approach this time; going cold-turkey obviously didn’t work for me. And I needed some kind of substitute drink that still had caffeine in it because that’s what was giving me the headaches.

I started the weekend with something of a detox. I allowed myself to drink as much tea as I wanted, to ward off the headaches. And I drank plenty of water of course.

Come Monday morning I bought coffee. But I found somewhere that sells reduced-caffeine coffee. Pie Face has ¾-caf; ½-caf; ¼-caf and decaf coffee (and full strength of course) that actually tastes pretty good. I started with a quarter-caf (‘tingle my toes’) in the largest size. I felt a bit sleepy the first two days, but it was enough caffeine to eliminate the withdrawal headache. And the taste was enough to take care of the psychological urge for a coffee.

Week two I came prepared. I had a two-cup teapot at work and started the day with a piping hot brew of English Breakfast tea. I did this every day and actually felt really good. By the third day I noticed my head was clear in the morning (all day actually) and I had the energy to easily work through to lunch.

Not having coffee breath was awesome but there’s the tea breath problem.

Now I’m alternating between pots of tea and cups of tea. I’ve had the occasional coffee which is what I wanted to get down to. I didn’t want to give up coffee completely. I love coffee. But now I am enjoying coffee. It is no longer something I gulp down as quickly as possible in order to return to normal, but something I savour the taste of, the smell of, the social occasion it is surrounded by.

I gave up coffee for health reasons and to increase my productivity both in my work and in my creative ability. But most of all I simply hated being addicted.