Caffeine is a drug. It is legal by chance alone. I wish I never started taking it as a teenager.
Really?
I used to drink a litre a day when I worked from home, brewed strong. Later I got an office job, and my consumption slowly tailed off, to te point I was drinking just one mug in the morning. No effort, no plan or intention, and certainly no headaches. It's no problem if I miss my morning joe.
I have an addictive personality, and I drink and smoke a lot; I don't think any addictive substance is easier to quit than coffee.
What you did is called tapering. You reduced your dose slowly enough to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
I assure you that the withdrawal is very real, though nothing ibuprofen can’t take care of. To experience it, just quit drinking all caffeine cold turkey.
I switched to decaf and can enjoy this pleasure without a bad sleep.
If you already got addicted, or just self-curing some other problems with high doses of coffee, maybe attack those problems head-first. Coffee is really not source of your issues in this case.
If we view it from perspective of addiction, then sugar should be banned in all forms first and foremost, then lets start talking about relatively mild stuff like caffeine. And all this is long after alcohol and all nicotine products are long banned. We know already how well that works, right.