How I Gave Up Daily Coffee with No Side Effects

For more than ten years – closer to 15, really — coffee has been a daily staple in my life. Wake up, make the coffee, have a quick breakfast, and head out the door. Or, on days when I was particularly well-prepared, set up the coffee machine timer the night before, and wake up to already brewed coffee.

After all, long-running ad campaigns have drilled it into us that the “best part of waking up” is that cup of coffee. Right? (Are you singing the jingle? I bet you are.)

To be honest, I wasn’t really looking to give up coffee. I like coffee. And, I’m not into fancy nine-pump-vanilla-mocha-latte-half-caf-extra-whip kind of drinks. I simply like coffee. No milk, no sugar, just straight black coffee – as dark as possible. Living in Seattle for almost twelve years certainly didn’t help this habit. It is cold and rainy nine months out of the year, so hot drinks are popular. I swear small children start drinking coffee as soon as they can eat solid food in the Emerald City.

But, after reading a couple of books in our Virtual Book Club, I realized I have made a ton of healthy changes in my diet over the past two years or so, but the one thing that remained was that daily cuppa Joe. While perhaps not the worst vice, there are some issues that resonated with me about coffee – mainly around pesticides and the acidic state it puts your body into – so I decided to give it up.

Here is the shocker: It was not hard.

In college, I gave up coffee for a semester or two, and it was the hardest thing ever. I just stopped drinking it cold turkey and suffered with headaches, irritability, and general unhappiness for a week or two. This time: Nothing, nada, zilch. I wanted to share how I did it so that you can benefit as well, should you wish to cut back or eliminate your coffee intake.

How to Give Up Coffee in Two Weeks

There is a product called Teeccino that you can buy at Whole Foods or other health foods stores in the coffee aisle. Look carefully, as it is probably near the bottom shelf. Or, you can simply order it from Amazon (which is cheaper, by the way). It comes in quite a variety of flavors, and I found that the strongest, therefore the one I preferred, was the Maya French Roast.

This product is made of the craziest good-for-you things — Organic Carob, Organic Barley, Organic Chicory, Organic Ramon Nuts – and it looks and brews just like coffee. But, it’s caffeine free and non-acidic.

Brilliant.

I used the Teeccino as an aid to wean off the coffee by mixing it into my daily routine in larger and larger amounts. I usually made two cups of coffee in the morning with 16 oz of water and 4 teaspoons of coffee, so here is how I used that same routine with the Teeccino:

• Days 1-4: 3 teaspoons coffee/1 teaspoon Teeccino
• Days 5-7: 2 teaspoons coffee/2 teaspoons Teeccino
• Days 8-10: 1 teaspoon coffee/3 teaspoons Teeccino
• Days11-14: 1/2 teaspoon coffee/ 3.5 teaspoons Teeccino
• Day 15 plus: Only Teeccino

Today, I don’t even drink the Teecino regularly. I have found that if I start my day with two 16 ounce glasses of water (one before breakfast and one with breakfast), I don’t even miss the hot beverage.

So, there you have it – a decade plus of coffee drinking down the drain without a single headache or grumpy reaction.

I hope that helps if you are looking to make a change with your coffee consumption. Even if not, try the Teeccino – it is superb!