How to Give Up Coffee in 7 Easy Steps (Part 2)

So, let’s say you’ve decided that you want to give up coffee. (Step 1) And that you have your own compelling reasons why this is a good thing for you. (Step 2)

Now what?

Here are the steps that worked for me once I took action…

Step #3 – Buy an assortment of good teas and fake coffees in advance.

If you look at the comments on Part 1 of this post, you’ll notice that Caren had a little “ah-hah!” moment when her friend told her to accept the fact that nothing else is coffee. This is true. But there are a few substitutes that got me through those first few days and weeks without coffee. (And I actually still like them!)

Black Tea

One thing I’ve noticed is that caffeine from tea doesn’t knock me down the same way that caffeine from coffee does. This post is not about eliminating caffeine altogether, though you may love how you feel after quitting coffee, and eliminating all caffeine will be a natural next step.

And when it comes to tea, never before have you had so many choices. It used to be that you’d get some Red Zinger, and maybe a box of Oolong. Now, there are flavors that make me nauseous just reading them. I just want to say that whoever came up with the idea for Blueberry Green tea should probably be asked to pack up his desk and leave the food industry altogether.

So, find some teas that work for you. Pick some that will be appealing in the morning. I think some of the joy of coffee is around the ritual and the hot morning drink. You can create a great ritual around tea as well, but it might take some time to get as excited about it! My favorite black tea is English Breakfast.

Green Tea

My acupuncturist says that what some people are really seeking in coffee is the inherent bitterness of it. Coffee is a bitter food. There are lots of tea types that mimic this trait. My favorite is Green Tea. I highly recommend that you get some Green Tea. I more highly recommend that the kind of Green Tea you get is Genmaicha. This is a Japanese Green tea with roasted rice in it. The taste is nutty and not as pungent as Chinese Green Tea. It also is great as an iced tea. If you get a caffeine headache, there’s nothing like Iced Genmaicha.

(Except for an Iced Americano with lots of cream and sugar!)

(Oops! I didn’t mean that!)

Herbal Tea

Herbal tea needs no description here, but I do recommend some basics like Camomile and Peppermint. When I was trying to cut back on sugar at night (I used to munch on cookies after dinner), I discovered Good Earth Tea. Man-oh-man, I love it. Be sure to get the caffeine-free blend so you can have it at night. Get the Original flavor, too. It’s calming. It’s sweet and cinnamon-y, and it has become my ritual, especially on winter nights. I never travel without it. It’s available in all grocery stores.

Fake Coffee

Here’s where you try to soothe your angry inner-child by offering imitation drinks that do their darndest to taste like coffee. I, personally think that they do a fairly good job. I’ve tried them all. These drinks are made from roasted grains like barley, chicory, and carob. Some of them have nuts and spices and figs. (oh my)

My two favorites are Roastaroma by Celestial Seasonings, and Teeccino (in the Chocolate Mint flavor only.) I drink Roastaroma in the mornings. It’s easy to make. It’s strong. And it’s in a tea bag. Teeccino is loose, like coffee grounds, and it’s best prepared in a French Press. If you’re avoiding dairy, both drinks taste good with soy milk. Teeccino Chocolate Mint is also great as an iced coffee with rice milk.

All of this may take some experimentation. But even my husband has gotten pretty into my fake iced-coffee drinks. And that’s saying a lot.

So, stock up. Have options all around.

Step #4 – Start coffee later in the morning

This step was by far the most effective method I used in the first stages of giving up coffee. Rather than just substitute tea for coffee, and go cold turkey, I began the process of quitting coffee by starting the coffee later in the morning. I began the day with a cup of tea, English Breakfast or Genmaicha, and I just put off the coffee habit til later and later in the morning.

This way you’re getting over a learned habit, rather than having to getting over the coffee itself. The habit of waking up into a cup of coffee. Just knowing that it was possible for me to wake up and not have coffee was a big deal for me. I did this for a little over a week.

Step #5 – On the first day of NO COFFEE, make that your only goal.

As a culture, we’re productivity junkies. We like to get things done, we like to keep going, we plow through our days our work and our tasks no matter what the cost to our bodies, or our souls. Busyness and nervousness are our major distractions. I think so much of the resistance in letting go of coffee is the fear of what will be there if you’re not all revved up on speed.

Well, here’s what to remember: What can happen on your first day without coffee is not the truth of what’s there. That’s just called detoxing.

So, what really helped me on my first day of quitting coffee was making that the only goal. My only to-do. This gave me permission to lie on the couch and listen to a book on tape. (Reading became unbearable, and I was so tired that I could barely sit up!) Listen to a mystery or something fun. Nothing too dramatic or super-charged. (Robert B. Parker Spenser mysteries? Excellent choice. Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within? Not so much.)

Day two will probably be much easier just because you gave yourself such a gift on day one. Day two was a breeze for me. I felt no symptoms at all. I truly believe that it’s because I gave myself that peaceful first day with only one goal: to not have coffee. It felt decadent. And it felt like I was really honoring this decision I had made.

This means that you won’t try to go shopping, or work out, or write a blog, or write your wedding thank you notes, or write a song, or read work-related materials. None of it. Do it on a Saturday. Call it a sick day, even if you don’t feel sick. Go for a walk, but only if you want to.

Step #6 – Watch for the addict-saboteur

This is the voice that will creep up after you’ve been doing well for a week or so. The one that says, “Hey, you’re doing really well. Why don’t you just have the teensy-eensiest drop of coffee? You can handle it.”

A while ago, I heard a news report of a woman in Italy who (at the time) was a hundred years old. The reporters were in her living room asking her how she did it. The only thing I remember about the story is that one of her daily habits was to have a cup of coffee every morning.

So, do you ever do this? You hear a report like that and you think to yourself, “See? The woman in Italy drank a cup of coffee every morning! And she’s a hundred! So, there you go!” And you order your Venti Machiato and march off to work sporting a huge buzz.

This is the kind of thing my saboteur does. (Click here for more on the subject.)

The thing is I’m not the woman in Italy. And the woman in Italy probably doesn’t have the Woman Whispering “Hurry” in her head either! I’m in a whole different culture. I know lots of people who do fine with their coffee. (See the comments section from Part 1 of this post!) But this is a choice I’ve made for me.

So, here’s what you do. First, you observe how often that voice in you rises up to tempt you with coffee. And when you’re faced with your saboteur, the only thing to do is to go back to Step #2, and remember your own non-self-righteous quiet reasons for giving up coffee. And be gentle. And see it with some humor.

Step #7 – Stop calling it “giving up coffee”

After all of this yammering on about giving up coffee, I’m now telling you that this post should have been called something like, “How to Delight in Your Powerful New Choice to Imbibe in the Wonders of Tea and Teeccino!” (You can see, however, that a title such as this might have flummoxed any and all Google searches.)

What you focus on grows. If you focus on coffee, if you tell everyone you’re giving it up, if you make a big dramatic scene with your wrist across your forehead, if you whine about coffee coffee coffee, then you’ll be making this idea of COFFEE even bigger for yourself. It will obsess you. Do yourself a favor. Give up giving up coffee. And start calling it something else. Something intriguing. Call it “Getting More Natural Energy!” (Yea, I know. But I AM being for real here.) Call it “Becoming More Consciously Peaceful in My Quaffing Habits.” Be a dork about it if that helps. Giving up implies lack. Think of it as adding something better.

Think of it as honoring yourself.