What I really couldn't kick was the habit of actually drinking the stuff. So I drink decaf now. Think it tastes different? I demand a double blind test. It tastes fine.
I didn't know which was which (as I drink decaf because of genetic marker rs762551 that says I'm not metabolizing caffeine properly). So I thought how great this would be to test the difference between the two.
Both were Arabica and I was able to differentiate between the two with or without milk and sugar. The decaf version (I asked afterwards) was decaffeinated using the swiss process.
I cannot guarantee that both beans were the same even if they were both Arabica so it might just be that the beans were different.
My conclusion was that one of the two tasted sharper and more bitter. When she came back she told me which coffee was decaf and it was the one that didn't have the sharpness to it (or at least much less of it)
When I went home I googled to learn the taste of caffeine itself and the first hit I got was a site describing it as a sharp bitter taste.
I will go and buy some and see if I like it.
Thanks.
I drink water or weak black tea as my substitute.
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe in the coffee pot this morning, my favorite bean at the moment.
Edit: I should add that I do understand that it effects everyone differently, my wife can't even drink half a can of pop without getting jittery.