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Comment by rzimmerman | Hacker News Reader

Quitting caffeine cold-turkey is very unpleasant. It can take a full two weeks of withdrawal (bad headaches, general tiredness). I’ve had more success reducing the amount (3/4 caf -> 1/2 caf) over time.

Anything more that 4 cups a day is probably unhealthy. Remember that 1 “cup” of coffee is actually 6 oz, so a normal coffee mug or latte is twice that. One coffee (2 “cups” or a latte) in the morning and one around 2pm works fine for me, but everyone’s body is different.

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I've 'quit' tea and coffee for long periods. It only takes a small daily quantity of caffeine to eliminate the withdrawal headaches. One 'Pro Plus' pill per day is probably sufficient (50mg anhydrous caffeine), reduced to half a pill per day after a week, then nothing after two weeks. Pills don't trigger the addictive yearning as much as the full coffee experience does. There's still sleepiness to contend with, however.

Coffee has effects beyond just the caffeine, in a way that caffeine pills or even tea do not.

It's the headaches I'm talking about.

yeah, i wish i knew that this was an option. I did it cold turkey and it sucked for a week. but now in not going back. sure i miss the ritual and the identity, but i feel much better.

Quantity of coffee is probably better determined by the weight of dry coffee that went into the beverage than by the volume of the resulting drink. Someone adds more water, someone prefers less, but they both may be on the same amount of coffee.

Everyone's body is indeed different. I switched to decaffeinated tea and coffee exactly a week ago. There wasn't any noticeable difference, maybe my sleep feels a bit different, but that is about it.

I already suspected that I am more attracted to the flavor of tea and coffee than to their actual caffeine content, because I could drink six cups of coffee one day, zero the next day, and feel no withdrawal.

> 1 “cup” of coffee is actually 6 oz

Wait, 8 oz is a cup of anything else - why is a cup of coffee only 6?

There are also slow and fast caffeine metabolizers, so there’s not one single safe amount.

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