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Comment by skipants | Hacker News Reader

Counter-point: I once quit coffee altogether, weening myself off with tea at first. After about 3 months of total caffeine "sobriety" I hated it. I found I enjoyed myself more and was more productive with some caffeine rather than none. It did help me cut back (I went from ~8 cups a day to ~2-4).

I think the level I'm at now -- still ~2-4 cups -- is perfect. I find I'm productive and still sleep well.

Note: 2-4 cups still sounds like a lot, but I mean 1 cup = 250ml not 1 mug.

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Nothing wrong with that, we are all different. I think its just important to talk about the drawbacks, especially in the software industry where coffee often is seen as some sort of fuel to do great things, while it may be the cause for all sorts of meltdowns.

If you run any type of startup/company, you are already in a very stressful position, no need to make it worse.

I was life-long anti-caffeine, except the occasional soda. Then I started drinking more and more of it as I drank more and more soda.

Eventually, I realized the soda was doing bad things to my system and got off it. I didn't drink coffee or tea, so that mean almost zero caffeine as well.

Lately, I started drinking chai twice per day at work. I've found that I'm a lot more productive and active, both at work and at home, though I do tend to get really sluggish a couple hours before bed.

I don't know drinking so much caffeine permanently altered my metabolism/body chemistry so that I need caffeine, or if it was an inevitable consequence of aging. It's weird to find that I now "need" caffeine just like everyone around me, when I definitely didn't just 10 years ago.

8 cups?! You should drink that much water - but coffee..

2-4 still seems like a lot - this is coming from someone who doesn't drink at all anymore, but before 1, maybe 2. Now I only drink if I know I need the alertness. More effective for me considering the caffeine tolerance is gone and even a little has full effect.

Why did you hate it?

It's pretty easy to hit 4 cups. Large cups of coffee are 20 fl oz which are ~570ml. So 2 larges in one day, which I have from time to time, will get you there.

I can't really explain why I hated it with complete accuracy -- I think I just felt overall less energetic. And I felt this way when I was definitely over the effects of caffeine withdrawal.

Same. I was off all caffeine for a month and I much preferred going back. However I stick to tea now and save coffee for emergencies.

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