The Truth About Decaf Coffee

Did you know decaf coffee isn’t actually caffeine free? - Well I didn’t and this really is new to me. 

The official Google definition for caffeine is:

“Caffeine is a drug that stimulates (increases the activity of) your brain and nervous system. Caffeine is found in many drinks such as coffee, tea, soft drinks and energy drinks. Chocolate also contains caffeine. Energy drinks often have more caffeine and sugar than soft drinks. To begin with, it's important to understand that decaf and caffeine-free are not the same thing. Caffeine-free means that there was never any caffeine in the product, to begin with, while decaf means that caffeine was removed from the product, leaving behind small amounts of residual caffeine.”

I googled the above for the sole purpose of this post, so someone please tell me why I didn't know that caffeine is officially classified as a drug? I always thought it was 'like' a drug! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I absolutely love my coffee, and I really cannot express this enough. My drink of choice is Douwe Egberts, with a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk. I started this around the age of 18 and never looked back. 

If any of you suffer from ADHD, then i’m sure there has been a time or two when you were using some form of substance (hopefully legal!) to keep your dopamine levels up, especially for those trivial chores or those days that seem to never end. You could say my coping mechanism was coffee. 

Need motivation? Coffee!

Stressed? Coffee! 

Happy? Coffee! 

Bored? Coffee! 

If you’re anything like me or half of the city, you probably thought to go decaf right? Well think again! 🤯- I figured this out a few years back when I started interning for Jen. When you're at work, its not great work ethic or time friendly to be sipping on a coffee every hour, then having to use the bathroom. I had attempted to lay off a few weeks prior to my start date but my discipline went out the window. (Yes i'm embarrassed but its ADHD's fault okay 😜). In the end, I learnt the hard way and had severe heartaches for the first 2 days of work. This was my withdrawal. I wasn't doing great, so I decided the best of both worlds would be to go for decaf coffee. Yet, I noticed I didn't get a headache on the third day which made me extremely suspicious. Previously for Ramadan, I laid off coffee, so typically I knew my withdrawal symptoms lasted a minimum of 4 days. 

I tested my theory by cutting out the supposed decaf coffee and found the headache knocking on my door again. Then, I googled it and found out the truth! 

On a side note, I noticed giving up coffee made me feel great and significantly less anxiety ridden. It was crazy how airy and light my head felt. I had by this point, been drinking coffee for so long that I'd forgotten a life where my body wasn't always jittery. 

Nowadays, I drink coffee on and off but not regularly. I miss it terribly and should you offer me a coffee and a chocolate bar or cake, i'm more than likely not able to resist. So, do me a favour please and just don't offer! 

They say there is no elevator to success, so here I am applying the same rule, there isn't really a REAL alternative, you either have it or you don’t. Or in my case, try and find the balance and just stick to it on the weekends as a good old treat. 

New Edit 3rd Oct 25: I'm back on the coffee wagan like an addict... I really need to quit!