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Comment by ci5er | Hacker News Reader

I drink about 36-cups/day, so this sounds as if I would be really irate if I had that little...

Are you being ironic or do you actually drink that much?

Ummm. Pretty close. 3 pots of coffee - poured over ice - from about 4am ~ 10pm or so? I tend to pretty obsessively sip during coding sessions. Although as I have aged, I have noticed that it might be disrupting my aging sleep patterns, so I may need to start cutting it back. But, in Japan, in my youth, when I was working in semiconductor - people considered it excessive, but not extraordinarily, you know, extraordinary. (I didn't drink or smoke at the time - now I do - so I think the combo is ganging up on my biology's ability to support this scenario)

EDIT: I was thinking about this a bit more... The first pot is 4am~6am, the next is 6am~10am(or so), and the 3rd pot is nursed over the next 12-or-so hours). I guess I am bootstrapping the system pretty hard at the beginning of the day... I haven't done a cost-benefit analysis, or even thought about it much, but looking at this conversation, it might turn out to be more cost-effective to take up meth (just kidding, that stuff sucks. Coffee is smooth).

Definitely more cost effective to find an amphetamine you like, that sounds like a massive amount of caffeine.

How much coffee beans do you use? Perhaps it's not strong and basically flavoured water?

I cannot imagine you're drinking 30+ espresso equivalent per day ... Do let us know as I am curious.

p.s. regardless of potency of the coffee it is excessive intake.

I don't know. Just about a pound/day ground, I guess?

There was a time when my daily intake was 4x 20oz bottles of Jolt Cola and 120+oz of coffee.

Then I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and started CPAP therapy.

Now I drink about half a pot of half-caf a day, more because I like it than because I need it.

I'm moving into your territory, I think. I find that I absolutely love the smell and flavor, but the caffeine is starting to be an irritant as I age. I don't (and never have) like sugary soda drinks, and water is "OK", but boring. I just like sipping on ice-coffee as I work.

Probably lots of tech folk who are getting older fall into this category. I loooove drinking coffee while working, but as I get older it’s giving me pretty bad heartburn. I’ve tried just about every other type of drink as a replacement, but nothing is as good as coffee :(

Cold brew has a lot less acid, and a wonderful flavor.

I drink a single cup of coffee a day (used to drink two), but love the flavor and taste that I considered drinking decaf the rest of the day. Never got around to doing it, but possible one resolution to this issue. Although decaf still has some caffeine, so I can’t really drink it too late in the day.

If it’s tobacco you smoke, that may explain why you prefer more caffeine - nicotine has been proven to reduce the half life of caffeine significantly.

Tangentially, have you considered making cold brew? Cold brew over ice tastes a LOT better than hot coffee poured over ice due to the lower acid content. It’s very easy to make if you have a French press.

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