A couple days ago I wrote about how I wanted to get out of the house more in 2023, so I started going to Starbucks in the morning to work.
I don’t typically drink coffee because I’ve always been afraid of developing a dependency on it. I don’t want to be the type of person who wakes up and has a headache because they haven’t had their cup of coffee.
Over the past few years, I’ve changed my attitude toward coffee a bit, but I still don’t drink it daily. I normally alternate between having coffee one day and a decaf herbal tea the next. I’ve found that by doing this, I don’t get attached to coffee but I’m still able to enjoy it on the days that I drink it.
Enter Starbucks. I feel like I’ve been on a 48-hour caffeine bender from two—yes, only two—coffees that I had from Starbucks.
Is this why so many people are hooked on Starbucks?
I mean seriously. I had one tall Pike Place coffee on Tuesday morning and one tall Pike place coffee on Wednesday morning. That’s 24 oz. of total coffee. The effects I felt from the caffeine were insane. My heart was pounding. I felt shaky. I couldn’t sleep. There was no way I could drink one of these coffees for a third day in a row.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Either you’re thinking that a) I’m being soft about the whole caffeine thing, or b) I will get used to it if I just keep drinking it.
I’m aware that this amount of caffeine intake is the norm for a lot of people. But should it be the norm? Should we all be used to feeling like we need caffeine to start our day? I hear people complain all the time about afternoon energy crashes or how they struggle with falling asleep. For most of my adult life, because I did not drink coffee, I never had issues with either of these things. I could maintain fairly consistent energy levels throughout the day and fall asleep any time, any place.
The FDA says that an average 8 oz. cup of coffee has 80-100 milligrams of caffeine. According to Caffeine Informer, an 8 oz. cup of Starbucks’ Pike Place has more than 1.5x that (~155 milligrams), which means that my 24 oz. of coffee over a 48 hour period was the equivalent of roughly 475-500 milligrams of caffeine. Who knows if Caffeine Informer is a reliable source of information, but even if it isn’t accurate, the effect that the Starbucks coffee had on my body can’t be ignored.
I skipped drinking any caffeine today, and after two days of feeling absolutely wired out of my mind, I finally came down and was able to relax.
It made me think about a world without coffee. Would we be unambitious, lethargic, tired? Or would we slow down, stop to smell the roses, and become a bit more patient?
Who would you be without coffee?
A couple days ago I wrote about how I wanted to get out of the house more in 2023, so I started going to Starbucks in the morning to work.
I don’t typically drink coffee because I’ve always been afraid of developing a dependency on it. I don’t want to be the type of person who wakes up and has a headache because they haven’t had their cup of coffee.
Over the past few years, I’ve changed my attitude toward coffee a bit, but I still don’t drink it daily. I normally alternate between having coffee one day and a decaf herbal tea the next. I’ve found that by doing this, I don’t get attached to coffee but I’m still able to enjoy it on the days that I drink it.
Enter Starbucks. I feel like I’ve been on a 48-hour caffeine bender from two—yes, only two—coffees that I had from Starbucks.
Is this why so many people are hooked on Starbucks?
I mean seriously. I had one tall Pike Place coffee on Tuesday morning and one tall Pike place coffee on Wednesday morning. That’s 24 oz. of total coffee. The effects I felt from the caffeine were insane. My heart was pounding. I felt shaky. I couldn’t sleep. There was no way I could drink one of these coffees for a third day in a row.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Either you’re thinking that a) I’m being soft about the whole caffeine thing, or b) I will get used to it if I just keep drinking it.
I’m aware that this amount of caffeine intake is the norm for a lot of people. But should it be the norm? Should we all be used to feeling like we need caffeine to start our day? I hear people complain all the time about afternoon energy crashes or how they struggle with falling asleep. For most of my adult life, because I did not drink coffee, I never had issues with either of these things. I could maintain fairly consistent energy levels throughout the day and fall asleep any time, any place.
The FDA says that an average 8 oz. cup of coffee has 80-100 milligrams of caffeine. According to Caffeine Informer, an 8 oz. cup of Starbucks’ Pike Place has more than 1.5x that (~155 milligrams), which means that my 24 oz. of coffee over a 48 hour period was the equivalent of roughly 475-500 milligrams of caffeine. Who knows if Caffeine Informer is a reliable source of information, but even if it isn’t accurate, the effect that the Starbucks coffee had on my body can’t be ignored.
I skipped drinking any caffeine today, and after two days of feeling absolutely wired out of my mind, I finally came down and was able to relax.
It made me think about a world without coffee. Would we be unambitious, lethargic, tired? Or would we slow down, stop to smell the roses, and become a bit more patient?
Who would you be without coffee?
