People who cannot function in the morning without their coffee..

[shenfrey]

does that mean they have a caffeine addiction? I don't drink Coffee or Tea and I feel great in the morning, I wake up around 6:20-6:30am and I always have so much energy and am ready to rock and roll. Is this because I DON'T drink coffee/Tea? And if so, doesn't that mean caffeine is having a negative effect on people regardless of the health benefits? (benefits that only benefit if you don't drink too much of course).

 

[shinji]

does that mean they have a caffeine addiction? I don't drink Coffee or Tea and I feel great in the morning, I wake up around 6:20-6:30am and I always have so much energy and am ready to rock and roll. Is this because I DON'T drink coffee/Tea? And if so, doesn't that mean caffeine is having a negative effect on people regardless of the health benefits? (benefits that only benefit if you don't drink too much of course).

Yes, it means you're not physically dependent on caffeine.

Want a cookie?

 

[shenfrey]

People who cannot function in the morning without their coffee..

Yes, it means you're not physically dependent on caffeine.



Want a cookie?

Depends, are they caffeine free?

 

[ardchoille50]

I think caffeine affects people differently. I have a coffee in the evening, just before bed, and it never seems to affect my sleep patterns.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

does that mean they have a caffeine addiction? I don't drink Coffee or Tea and I feel great in the morning, I wake up around 6:20-6:30am and I always have so much energy and am ready to rock and roll. Is this because I DON'T drink coffee/Tea? And if so, doesn't that mean caffeine is having a negative effect on people regardless of the health benefits? (benefits that only benefit if you don't drink too much of course).

Let's separate two things which I think may be different here.

Firstly, there is the matter of the consumption of coffee, and secondly, there is the issue of 'feeling great in the morning'.

Long before I swooned on catching the scent of 'real' coffee as a small child (and yes, even as a small child, if I could persuade adults to give me coffee, I did so; I never liked soft drinks, but I have always loved coffee), I loathed mornings. Especially dark, dull, miserable, overcast, wet, winter mornings.

So, even as a small child, I was not a morning person. I am, by temperament, disposition and character, a night owl. Without my morning coffee, of course I can function. It is just that I don't function as well. So, I prefer to have a mug - or two - of rich, serious, 'real' coffee, first thing in the morning.

So, mornings, I am not at my best. Yes, I can do them, but I am not performing optimally. However, put me at a midnight crisis meeting and I'll ace you. Ask me to research through the night, and I am peerless.

In any case, my first cup of coffee in the day is an experience of pure, unallayed joy, sheer sensual pleasure.

You strike me as someone who is a morning person, - anyone who 'wakes full of energy at 6:20 ready to rock and roll' - is a morning person. Actually, the kind of person I want to assassinate, if they try to waken me up, unexpectedly. In my experience, they don't even need coffee.

 

[shenfrey]

Let's separate two things which I think may be different here.



Firstly, there is the matter of the consumption of coffee, and secondly, there is the issue of 'feeling great in the morning'.



Long before I swooned on catching the scent of 'real' coffee as a small child (and yes, even as a small child, if I could persuade adult to give me coffee I did; I never liked soft drinks, but I have always loved coffee), I loathed mornings. Especially dark, dull, overcast, wet, miserable winter mornings.



So, even as a small child, I was not a morning person. I am, by temperament, disposition and character, a night owl. Without my morning coffee, of course I can function. It is just that I don't function as well. So, I prefer to have a mug - or two - of rich, serious, 'real' coffee, first thing in the morning.



So, mornings, I am not at my best. Yes, I can do them, but I am not performing optimally. However, put me at a midnight crisis meeting and I'll ace you. Ask me to research through the night, and I am peerless.



In any case, my first cup of coffee in the day is an experience of pure, unallayed joy, sheer sensual pleasure.



You strike me as someone who is a morning person, - anyone who 'wakes full of energy at 6:20 ready to rock and roll' - is a morning person. Actually, the kind of person I want to assassinate, if they try to waken me up, unexpectedly. In my experience, they don't even need coffee.

Very interesting post, and I do agree with you that people do react to certain times differently. I guess the question is, is a morning person always a morning person, or can it change?

 

[Melrose]

I drink coffee because I love the general feeling I get - it's a drug, I realize, but I wouldn't qualify it as addiction since I can go without it with no ill effects other than a bit of a brain fog for a few hours.

My family always drank tea, which is great, but I just find that coffee gives me a sort of mental awareness and self acceptance - "Everything's gonna be okay" - that I don't get with tea.

Plus, coffee is awesome.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Very interesting post, and I do agree with you that people do react to certain times differently. I guess the question is, is a morning person always a morning person, or can it change?

I am not sure.

Two further thoughts occur, and they are these: Firstly, I have noticed that those who describe themselves as morning people often flake in the evening; they are unable to last the full course at a long lingering dinner, their mental capacity and concentration go, and they struggle, often unsuccessfully, to smother their yawns.

Now, unless I am working abroad, I do not indulge (too much) in long, lingering dinners, but when I am in an interesting place, with congenial, and interesting colleagues (some of whom, inevitably, cross the threshold into friendship) there are few greater pleasures in life than long lingering dinners, in an agreeable setting, mixed with intelligent, interesting and thought-provoking conversations. In those situations, I don't need coffee, though I will happily round a convivial meal off with a coffee and cognac.

My second thought arises from that first: As a nocturnally inclined individual, I don't need coffee at night, - though I'll drink some if offered - and, broadly speaking, my coffee consumption drops radically after 18:00-19:00.

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I drink coffee because I love the general feeling I get - it's a drug, I realize, but I wouldn't qualify it as addiction since I can go without it with no ill effects other than a bit of a brain fog for a few hours.

My family always drank tea, which is great, but I just find that coffee gives me a sort of mental awareness and self acceptance - "Everything's gonna be okay" - that I don't get with tea.

Plus, coffee is awesome.

Agreed. Coffee is awesome.

 

[Mr. McMac]

I'm brewing a pot as I read this thread

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I'm brewing a pot as I read this thread

As am I, now that you mention it.

 

[Mr. McMac]

As am I, now that you mention it.

How do you brew yours? I use an 8 Cup Farberware Percolator.

 

[David58117]

Coffee often makes people's breath smell really terrible I've noticed - so I try to stay away from it.

Cocaine - now that will get you up.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

How do you brew yours? I use an 8 Cup Farberware Percolator.

I use a Hario (ceramic) dripper - and a paper filter - if I am making a single cup for myself. Abroad, I have a plastic dripper, which is reassuringly indestructible.

The other two ways I make coffee are with a French Press (currently, I have a lovely - again ceramic - pot by Le Creuset, the French company, coloured in raspberry).

If I am in a mood to potter, and have plenty of time, and am feeling unusually benign and philosophical - or, if I merely need the esespreso style hit, I will use my old Bialetti moka pot.

I am also planning to get - acquire, buy, obtain, purchase - a Chemex pot before long - they make beautiful coffee.

Coffee often makes people's breath smell really terrible I've noticed - so I try to stay away from it.

Cocaine - now that will get you up.

That is why we have mouthwash and toothpaste. Wonderful inventions.

As for cocaine, sorry. No, thanks. I don't 'do' the hard drugs. Ever.

 

[maflynn]

I'm down to 3 cups of coffee in the morning. When I worked from home, I would invariably drain the 10 cup carafe. I'm sure what it counts as a cup is much smaller then what I consider a cup. I made 1/2 carafe of coffee this morning and I barely made it to 3 cups.

My goal is to slowly reduce my coffee intake until its mostly gone, though I doubt I'll be completely coffee free.

 

[Mr. McMac]

Coffee often makes people's breath smell really terrible I've noticed - so I try to stay away from it.

Cocaine - now that will get you up.

I stopped doing coke in 2002 the day John Entwistle of the Who died of a heart attack. As much as I loved doing it, I've never once thought about doing it again.

 

[juanm]

I need at least two hours and a long shower to start functioning like an almost normal person after I wake up, unless I've slept less than five hours. I don't like coffee, tea isn't strong enough, and I don't like the idea of getting addicted, so occasionally, when I really need a jump start, I drink half an energy drink, it kind of works. On the other hand, I can postpone sleep by a long time, I've seldom felt the feeling of "I'm tired, I'm going to bed" at night. I'm always more efficient at nighttime anyway.

 

[oldhifi]

I cannot go without my coffee in the morning, yes I am addicted and luv it..

 

[2984839]

I can't make my coffee properly unless I've had coffee first.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I'm down to 3 cups of coffee in the morning. When I worked from home, I would invariably drain the 10 cup carafe. I'm sure what it counts as a cup is much smaller then what I consider a cup. I made 1/2 carafe of coffee this morning and I barely made it to 3 cups.

My goal is to slowly reduce my coffee intake until its mostly gone, though I doubt I'll be completely coffee free.

Yes, I was about to ask how you define the word 'cup'. A cup (as in a cup and saucer cup, and I have a set of exquisite d'Ancona ones made in Italy that I bought when my favourite Italian coffee shop closed four years ago - a victim of the recession) is something I could effortlessly have three of four of, in sequence.

However, the sturdy Le Creuset mug - which is rather capacious now that I come to think of it - allows me to argue that - many mornings, I have 'only' one or two er, what I coyly terms 'cups' of coffee, when, they are, of course, in reality, rather more than that.

 

[ravenvii]

I can't make my coffee properly unless I've had coffee first.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I need at least two hours and a long shower to start functioning like an almost normal person after I wake up, unless I've slept less than five hours. I don't like coffee, tea isn't strong enough, and I don't like the idea of getting addicted, so occasionally, when I really need a jump start, I drink half an energy drink, it kind of works. On the other hand, I can postpone sleep by a long time, I've seldom felt the feeling of "I'm tired, I'm going to bed" at night. I'm always more efficient at nighttime.

I am cut from a somewhat similar cloth, and understand your sentiments exactly.

Two hours, a long steaming hot shower, preferably little to no conversation at breakfast (or, rather, preferably none directed at me), a pot of coffee, some freshly squeezed juice, and I begin to feel remotely human.

Each morning, when I awaken, it is almost like being born again - you have to re-learn so many things in order to get to grips with the fact that you are supposed to be a sentient being assigned a role that requires participation in life.

 

[Jessica Lares]

My dad is addicted to coffee to the point that he doesn't feel well without it, especially by midday. I just drink it as a casual hobby though.

I'm such a morning person that I literally have my headphones blasting out loud music and am already jumping all over the place. It drives everyone in my house insane.

But yeah, it's mostly bedtime by 10 PM.

 

[firedept]

I enjoy my coffee all day. But the only other beverage I will drink is real fruit juices and I prefer them only when it is hot. Coffee has never seemed to affect how I operate through a day, or maybe I am fooling myself.

 

[D.T.]

I think caffeine affects people differently. I have a coffee in the evening, just before bed, and it never seems to affect my sleep patterns.

You say as you post at 3am

 

[mgguy]

Mornings without coffee or some other form of caffeine suck. Mornings with it are pleasurable and productive. Throw a good fat cigar into the mix, and you have something really special.