Some of my avid readers (ha!) may recall that for Lent this year I went caffeine free. (see previous blog) Initially the experiment was hard but I persevered with it. I learnt several things in this time:
1: Berocca may be you but on a really good day but it also does alarming things to your waterworks
2: Decaff coffee in most establishments does not really taste of much. I considered suing under the trade descriptions act.
3: Decaffeinated Diet Coke is the holy grail of soft drinks.
4: Morgan’s Spiced does not really work with any other mixer than cola.
5: Once you get past the unpleasant smell Rooibos tea is really rather nice.
Easter Sunday heralded the end of my self imposed caffeine ban and I was rather looking forward to making a cafetiere of real coffee. But when it got down to it I actually did not fancy it and waited a further 24 hours before risking it. I brewed the coffee with some trepidation and deliberately made it fairly weak. To be honest, it tasted ‘ok’ but was not worthy of the build up I had given it. In fact I think I talked myself into having a headache shortly after imbibing it.
A few weeks on and I’ve been sticking with it, more or less. I’m still drinking the Rooibos tea and enjoying it and the few times I have given into ‘real’ strong coffee; man have I paid the price! Last week in Madrid (following a particularly large night out) I felt the necessity to drink 4 cups of rocket fuel coffee before mid day and this resulted in me having some sort of episode where I thought I might pass out: palpitations, sweats, feeling edgy and paranoid. And no, it wasn’t just a hangover.
I know now I’ve got to ration the caffeine and that I don’t need it to function and to find my get up and go. The few times I’ve given into a good cup of Joe since the experiment have made me skittish, over animated, fidgety, talkative and the coffee has gone through me like a freight train…!
