I drink one or two cups of coffee, mostly socially (break time at work), but I can take it or leave it. Same with anything alcoholic. I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was 35. I started earlier with tea, which I do drink daily — 3 or 4 cups of green tea (which is supposed to provide healthy polyphenols & other anti-oxidants). I much prefer its taste to soda pop, which I don’t drink (any longer, except with the occasional pizza. :^)

Caffeine? Doesn’t do anything for me. I can drink espresso within a couple of hours of bedtime, and it won’t affect my sleep. Similarly, it does nothing to help me wake up or stay awake.

So for me, coffee & tea are just “beverages”, and as long as I don’t sweeten them with sugar (saccharin is not absorbed by the body, thank goodness!), they’re much more healthy to me than soda pop, fruit juice, or alcohol. Water might be “the best choice”, but I think “water infused with camelia sinensis phyto-nutrients” (i.e., green tea) is even better yet…

I don’t EVER drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or do any type of illegal drugs (although I’m not one of those people who doesn’t take aspirin for a headache.) I’ve discovered my life is better without those items in it.

Oh, and I too don’t really goto parties, bars, etc. and feel a little judged by those who do.

I think I’m in a similar boat, although it’s alcohol more so than coffee that gets to me. I live in Australia and it’s easy to see how the American obsession with coffee has spread to us.

Every morning most people come to work clutching their coffees as if they need them to breathe. Then over and over during the day they go out to fetch more and more coffee to sustain them during the day.

There is a strange respect that people receive for drinking lots of cups of it every day and I’m not sure I understand why, although it may stem from the similar mindset people have about drinking alcohol.

If you don’t drink alcohol you’re a freak. If you can remember what you did the night before, then you didn’t drink enough, or you didn’t “go hard”. I don’t consider myself prudish, I just really don’t understand the mentality behind it.

Perhaps the same “respect” that people receive for getting seriously drunk and doing all sorts of things they wouldn’t do sober, extends by day to the drinking of coffee, when it’s worn as a badge of pride that they “need” that much caffeine in order to function properly.

I think it’s sad really that that’s how things are.

I occasionally drink coffee milk, but i don’t touch alcohol. Never have (36yo). But I’ve always felt like a freak who exists on the outside of regular life, and doesn’t fit in because I don’t go to the parties etc and “have a great night”.

I don’t go, because it’s no fun being sober among a room full of drunks. I’d rather get out and do something else. Can’t help feeling like a freak some days though. Oh well. Each to their own I guess.

It seems like such a big thing in my generation (I’m 20) to rely on substances like caffeine and alcohol for entertainment. I guess this isn’t unique to the millennials; every generation forms its own culture around mood-affecting substances. What I object to is the sense of proving one’s mettle or worth by the amount of substances you consume. Again, this may not be unique.

Like with coffee — I know many people who wake up and “need” a few cups to function right. While I don’t have a huge problem with that, it’s a little annoying how respected that is (sort of “oh, you need three cups of coffee, you’re really hardcore”) and how being able to wake up fine without caffeine is thoroughly unimpressive. Same with alcohol or over-the-counter drugs, like you wrote — dependence is respected, and when I choose to not alter my body’s chemistry in that way, I feel like I lose a degree of respect from my peers.

This isn’t an absolute rule, but it seems to be a general trend in the United States, at least. Thanks for a great post, especially your first bullet point. Caffeine doesn’t have a real noticeable effect on me, but that’s only one reason why I don’t drink it… very good to read.

I don’t really ever crave it; I’ll drink it if I’m in a coffeehouse, my prefered social venue; but I really hate the withdrawl cycle.

@Tallken
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@cyberdork33
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