Saturday, November 20, 2010

Sleeping like a Baby

I've been on a journey for about three months now of eliminating caffeine in my life, mostly from the coffee source since I still welcome the occasional chocolate bar. Before this journey began, I was drinking between 2-3 cups of extra bold Sumatra coffee. It is by far the best coffee I have ever loved as far as home brewing goes.
Well, I was starting to notice that it was taking more and more coffee to keep me going throughout the day, and I didn't like the money it was taking to support my coffee habit. So I started making rules for myself. Starting with no coffee after 2pm, not even decaf. That was hard to stick to, since my afternoon drag usually hit around 3pm.
Once I had mostly mastered that rule though, I moved on to a harder one, only one cup of coffee in the morning and none in the afternoon, and if I slipped in the afternoon, it could only be decaf. (that last part was included because our lovely friends the Harrigans sometimes serve decaf after dinner on Thursdays and I love a warm cup with company).
Next came switching to half-caf coffee, but that was a total flop because only Folgers makes a premixed half-caf and it is terrible. So when we got a new roommate and he started brewing the coffee in the morning he would make the good stuff and I just couldn't resist.
So the next plan of attack, which happen quite by accident is that our roommate jumped on board and we started a slow weaning process. It started with 30% decaf Sumatra coffee mixed with 70% Costa Rican coffee and we worked our way to our current ratio of 40% Costa Rican and 60% decaf Sumatra. 
I got to say, I have been sleeping amazing at night and waking up ready for my day. I haven't slept this good since before I was pregnant with Kalei, so almost two years with crummy sleep. 
I will admit, it took a little while for my body to adjust, but now that it has, I love the results. By Dec. 1st my goal is to be on decaf Sumatra 100%.
If you have ever wanted to kick caffeinated coffee, I suggest the method we are using now, and the key is to find a good tasting decaf to substitute with, since I still love the taste of coffee, and could never part with it altogether. 
So with that I tip my mug to you.

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