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Comment by amelius | Hacker News Reader

Coffee makes me feel anxious, but the weird thing is that cola doesn't have this effect on me, even in large quantities, so it can't be the caffeine (I suppose; or cola could contain something that mitigates the bad effects of caffeine somehow).

Does anyone here have a similar experience? How can this be explained?

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I remembered hearing that the caffeine used in soda came from the caffeine removed from coffee to make decaf, so I thought this was kind of strange since the source was the same. But I just went and actually looked it up and I guess it used to be true, but now primarily comes from Chinese pharmaceutical plants. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/03/13/289750754/wa...

There are plenty of other drugs in coffee apart from the caffeine. Some are similar to cannabinoids.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00243...

See also this comment on a coffee health-benefits study which suggests that the health benefits of coffee are not due to the caffeine:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/articl...

Yeah, it's the same for me. Too much coffee, like just two cups, can give me a slight and distinct type of headache, but I can pop 600mg caffeine in pills or energy drinks without anything resembling the same effect.

I wonder what it is.

For me, it's the type of coffee. Often supermarket-bought coffee that's dark roasted can cause this reaction in me. Maybe it's the pesticide, maybe it's the carcinogens from burning the coffee... I dunno.

I've mentioned this to a few others, and they can now also drink coffee. If they avoid such types. Perhaps try some fresh, lightly roasted, and organic coffee to start with. This way you avoid three possible causes.

Works for me.

Interesting side note, apparently the darker the roast, the less caffeine it has. Heat denatures the caffeine in the beans. People assume that dark, bitter coffee is "strong", but light roasts actually give the most pick-me-up.

Many psychoactive compounds have differing effects based on the speed at which they enter the brain. Perhaps you drink coffee quicker than soda, causing the concentration of caffeine in your brain to rise more quickly?

I am the same way. I decided to try caffeine in pill form, and it gives the the heightened awareness and increased productivity without the jitters and anxiety.

Pure psychological effect? Some people feel X because they believe they will feel X.

That said, note that a Coke can can have 1/3 or less the caffeine a coffee has.

it's a very real physiological reaction to caffeine. I took some aspirin/caffeine tablets once for a headache.. i wasn't aware of the additional caffeine content (a few cups of coffee worth) , but was an anxious mess an entire night, heart racing, didn't sleep.

Coffee has a smaller but similar effect.

Have you tried coffee with L-Theanine? It takes the edge off the caffeine for me and makes me feel much calmer and more focused.

For me it's completely the other way around. Coke has always given me anxiety and palpitations, coffee just makes me feel good. Club Mate (mate tea) is somewhere in between, I used to feel jittery and almost sick from it but now it makes me feel great (however the high caffeine is noticeable).

Sugar is also a powerful drug. It makes you feel good.

Cola: ~10mg per 100ml.

Coffee: ~100mg per 100ml.

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