I thought that if you didn't drink coffee in Seattle, the locals gather at your house with torches and chase you out of town. At least that's what my husband says... ;-D

Michelle

---

------------------------------------------------------------
The beatings will continue until morale improves

Seriously. I never drank coffee until I moved out here and now I'm a total addict. You can always tell who has just moved here or are just visiting because they take the time to read the menu at the coffee shop. And they order "a regular cup of coffee, a big one" instead of a "grande Americano, no room."

I've had various nutritionsts, docs, etc. try and tell me I should cut out the caffeine but screw em. As I said before, I gave up booze, smokes and meat, I ain't giving up coffee or chocolate.

---

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I lived in Seattle for a few years in the mid-90's and I was definitely one of those people. I was completely bewildered by the variety of options with coffee. My now husband was a barista at the time so I think it horrified him to have me be like "just give me a coffee damnit!" Not that Portland is any better, here it's all about what local roaster you've gotten your beans from...

And yes, if a doctor told me to give up caffeine they'd have to produce some pretty powerful back-up reasons, because otherwise that just ain't happening...

M

---

------------------------------------------------------------
The beatings will continue until morale improves

Last October, I was having chest pain so I was rushed to have a cardiac echo/stress test. My BP was through the roof with high intensity exercise(220/115). No other heart problems found. Asked about my caffiene intake which is/was substantial. I eliminated all for 1 week then retook the test. Normal BP.
I have to say, life just isn't worth living without a little coffee. I cut way back on work days but have 2 cups on high workout days. I still miss it terribly. A little won't hurt!
Good luck!
C

Do you like green tea? If so, try real Japanese matcha tea. A bit expensive but totally worth it. I've been drinking it for the past month now and, surprisingly, have not been craving coffee (a minor miracle in itself). I order from a place called Zen Matcha in Canada.

I quit coffee (caffeine) cold turkey 4 days ago... was drinking 2 large travel mugs with hot chocolate mix or homemade espresso sugar bombs every single morning - amounting to about a pot a day, lots of calories and tons of sugar. Tuesday the headache was horrible. It was gone Wednesday morning though. The fog brain seems to be kicking in today, and with the weekend coming, it's going to be hard to resist... I'm having a few health issues right now and decided I had to quite the caffeine thing for the time being (also laying off the booze for a little while, although, I don't think I will be giving up on that completely - beer is way better than coffee!). It's weird, I didn't drink coffee ever until I was about 28 (hated it), got the occasional Starbucks until I had to stop because I couldn't afford it any more (I admit to only being able to drink very sugary coffee... mochas, raspberry lattes, carmel macchiatos, you get the picture) to drinking it every day the last year and a half. Now, a few issues, along with a little weight gain, I figured I could easily cut out 500 calories a day, and a few pounds of sugar a week if I quit the coffee... Maybe it will help me feel better, maybe it won't - I'm interested to see how it goes. I'm hoping to not drink it at all for a month or 2, then go back to my late 20's stage where I would have a coffee a week - I really enjoyed it then, now it's crutch I don't want!

Good luck you kittycat - I hope you get all of your issues sorted! Kicking coffee is HARD!

---

**********************
Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

Peet's Decaf French is the best. If I had to quit coffee, I would mix reg and decaf and slowly decrease the amount of caffeine so it wouldn't be so painful. I feel for ya.

I love matcha. I've gave up coffee and switched to green tea several years ago.

But guess what? Last weekend I bought a French press and some mostly decaf beans yesterday. I brewed up my first cup of coffee this morning (after I drank my green tea) and it's great! I was so excited.

I've always loved the taste of coffee. I like it black so there's no worry about extra calories.

I'm back on the coffee band wagon, woo-hoo!

I think it's an individual thing. In 2002, I had severe stomach problems, to the point where they stuck a camera down my throat to see what was going on. It turned out to be inflamation of the stomach lining and my doctor told me to cut out the coffee IMMEDIATELY. It took three weeks for the headaches to subside.

I've since switched to black tea, which has less caffeine, but still gives me a nice buzz in the morning.

---

"Real winners aren't content with yesterday's victories"

yes, i like it, but it's not coffee. so far i'm down to 1 cup of espresso, which i make Americano. it's going ok, and seems to not have an adverse effect (no pain).

but it's been a tough few weeks; this showed me how much of a junkie i really was!