I’ve been coffee free for 3 weeks and this is what happened

When I think about coffee there are a few memories that come to mind. Me sneaking around at age 6 to have a few sips of my mom’s coffee she left out. The smell in the morning when my automatic coffee maker would go off at 7 am to prep me for my 8 am college class. The stories my friends and me would share over hot coffee with hazelnut creamer. Coffee is a social drink, and it’s become that even more so now that I live in St. Pete. Coffee shops like Kahwa, Black Crow Coffee, and Bandit have all popped up in recent years and I surely could not get enough.

I use to take my coffee with milk and sugar. I learned from the best – my mom. Every morning my mom would wake up and make her coffee, which now seems to me to just be flavored milk. Lots of milk and a touch of coffee. Waking up during the week for high school, coffee was something I looked forward to. I don’t know if it was truly the coffee, or the mega sugar buzz I got from the 6 teaspoons I would commit to, but nonetheless it made my morning every morning.

When I was in college, coffee became more accessible and delicious. Our campus had three coffee shops – Starbucks, Einsteins and later on a little kiosk coffee shop right next to my afternoon class. My roommate and I use to cram for finals and make pots of coffee at 10pm. Somehow I still managed to sleep.

Coffee just became a staple in my morning routine. Wake up, get ready, make coffee, go to work. I was never a big afternoon coffee drinker once I started working, but on occasion, that 2:30 crash would hit me and had no choice. If you’re a hardscore coffee drinker like me, that crash is brutal!

Coffee makes the headlines every once in awhile. It’s good for you it’s bad for you. I’ve always rooted for the, coffee-is-good-for-you team. Meanwhile in France (see our trip here!), coffee by the jug is really hard to find. I mean, my boyfriend and I would be on the hunt every single morning looking for real coffee. You know, like a 12 oz cup of coffee you could enjoy on the go. Nowhere to be found. I can’t speak for Europe, but in France, coffee is always drank in a small espresso cup. Most times it was instant espresso and didn’t have much taste. Needless to say, we rarely drank coffee while in France. I mean, the wine was plentiful anyway, but headaches became abundant.

When we returned to the states, I honestly could not wait to have a big cup of coffee. It felt so good to be able to put my lips around this sweet, caffeinated aroma every single morning. Until one morning we ran out of coffee. I was working through my morning as usual and I had the worst headache ever. “Ughh where’s my caffeine” I can imagine my brain screaming at me. So I decided to stop drinking coffee to see what would happen.

I just completed my third week of no coffee and here are a few things I’ve observed.

• I’m still just as awake
• I don’t have afternoon crashes
• My teeth love me more
• NO COFFEE BREATH
• I get to try all these new teas!
• No headaches

If you are anything like me, I always thought coffee was a need for me to wake up. In the first few days of no coffee I certainly felt that way. However, after those days passed, I no longer needed the coffee to feel awake and I was no longer popping ibuprofen to get rid of the headaches. I don’t think I will give up coffee entirely, I love the taste and the memories that come with it. But it is nice to know I don’t need it anymore and I can go back to just enjoying it every once in awhile with friends.