Is it time to shake up your coffee routine?

How to make conscious coffee choices for optimal energy and clarity

I love love love coffee — to the point where it was the first thing on my mind in the morning (yay, coffee!) and the last thing at night (yay, coffee again in a few hours!)

But there was this nagging feeling that started getting louder and louder. After one too many cups, I’d often feel anxious, or sluggish and bloated if I drank it too late in the afternoon. Gradually, it became clear that coffee wasn’t giving me the boost I thought it was. And still, the idea of giving up coffee seemed almost unthinkable.

It finally hit me how silly this was after reading an article by Nat Eliason, You have no idea how much better you could feel. The message: we have to periodically mess with our status quo. Change up our routines and habits. See how it feels. Don’t like it? Just switch back. Nothing lost.

I realised I was purposefully ignoring signs from my body, which started to feel a bit short-sighted.

So, over the past 12 months, I’ve done two experiments:

1. Drink coffee more consciously/strategically
2. Switch to decaf