I would have, on an average day, three, maybe four coffees in a 24 hour period. But I have two teaspoons of coffee at home when I make instant. So is that really eight?
Jesus, that eye twitch is starting to make sense.
And the thing is, I had not touched coffee until my first office job, aged 17. Not even a sip, but to curb both my boredom and appetite, I got stuck into the coffee. Plus, I had to make it for my geriatric boss who would demand one via internal phone whenever he felt like it. Only problem was, I was a coffee virgin and thus, it afforded me the luxury of completely fucking it up. Every. Single. Time. He stopped asking me after a while.
But being a teenager with a rapidly expanding ass due to going from active high school girl, to stationary office minger in one month, made me want to fill the gaps in my always hungry tummy with something that wasn’t food. Hellloooo Nescafe. *gag*
My addiction seemed to ramp up after my first child. Every morning, I would take the two of us down to a coffee shop, usually the same one, and enjoy my first real coffee of the day. It wasn’t my first one of the day, mind, just my first real one, from a real machine. I swear to god it was my saviour in those first few months where my mind was mush and everything revolved around nappies, sleeplessness, milk and spew. It got me out. It got me speaking to other humans and it got me a little bit happy. So happy in fact, I would often go on a shopping frenzy for shit I didn’t need. Story of my life. Hey look at that, I’ve traced it back, I blame the evil brown bean for my shopping addiction. Damn you and your underhanded high.
My best friend resolutely avoided coffee until about 3 years ago. She went to a friends, for morning tea and for one reason or another, she accepted a coffee. Instantly hooked. Into the latte sachets quicker than you can change Federal Governments and sucking back the cappuccinos on a regular basis.
Same friend just brought a Nespresso Machine. You know the one. The one where George Clooney comes and licks your ear whilst presenting you with an awesome cup of coffee in bed with every machine purchased?* We got a chance to sample some in Myer. I was impressed. Didn’t think I would be, but was.
I also have two friends who don’t drink coffee. At all. One has agreed we need to meet for an alcoholic beverage should we ever be in the same state, the other drinks a truckload of V and probably has more heart palpitations than a fat kid at a cupcake party.
I do however, have little time for the pretentious wankers who turn up to a generic coffee shop and order a half caff, soy, extra hot, mini, non-fat chai tea latte. FUCK. OFF.
So, back to my original question – how much is too much. I have settled on a limit of 3 a day. 2 before I get to work, one when I get there. Sufficient stimulus to get me awake, functioning and get all four of us to kindy/School and work each day. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
How many do you do a day?
*May or may not be a bit of bullshit.
29 comments:
I think 3 a day is totally fine Bern. I think if you start not being able to sleep and begin to shake uncontrollably, then it's time to cut back! Your family needs you to be able to function. So therefore you need 3 coffees a day! xx
I never got into coffee until last year when I was 19. I go through phases with it but I try to limit myself to only one a day because otherwise I get twitchy and anxious!
The other thing I noticed is that if I have one a day for a week, then go one day without, I get a headache. Perhaps I'm one of those people that gets addicted to stuff really quickly?
I totally understand how people can drink cup after cup but I really make an effort not to, so I don't fall down that slippery caffeinated slope! x
I love my coffee but only started drinking it seriously about 18 months ago. By seriously I mean I bought my own grinder and order in freshly roasted whole beans. This, of course, meant that I had access to GREAT coffee without having to leave the house so I will, shamefully, admit that I go through a 250g bag of beans every 2-3 days, about 8 16oz mugs a day. Yeah, that is BAD! But it keeps me running and sane :D Jen.
I have about two a year!! My metabolism is fast enough. I had one the morning after a very late concert and my colleagues were laughing how sped up I was - talking fast, typing fast... They keep asking me to have another for their entertainment!!
Hi. My name is Naomi and I'm one of those pretentious wankers in your generic coffee shop asking for light soy chai lattes, and gluten free cakes. It's ben less then 24 hours since I last asked.
If we meet up, IRL, lets head to straight to a bar!
Gawd. I try not to count but yet another addiction I need to kick. I do 6-8 cups a day (not good, not good.) I just think I'm immune to caffeine now from too much substance abuse.
But I reckon your double-spoons do count for eight cups a day, definitely!
I use to drink coffee all the time upto about 8 in a 24 hour period. In the last 4 yrs I've cut down to cups in a 24 hour period as well as gone from 2 sugars to 1 sugar. Guess I'm slowly going off coffee
Can I tell you that I nodded at nearly every single paragraph?
We have no Nespresso machine, but we do have a Delonghi machine. TOO CONVENIENT.
So, like you, I limit myself to three, and none after 2.30pm.
If I need a "something" after that, kettle gets slapped on and I have a glass of peppermint tea.......and I then feel smug but uncharged......
And....the pretentious wankers who turn up to a generic coffee shop and order a half caff, soy, extra hot, mini, non-fat chai tea latte... GET A LIFE, THEN ORDER A GLASS OF WATER FFS.....
I do none :( thanks to a bad case of SVT (heart palpitations). I get one caffeine a day and I make it a Coke.
But back when I was an office worker, I was on Nescafe like crack.
I have a cappucino everyday but cups of tea? About 4 a day. In my defence I was born in Ireland and my obsession with it is genetic.
I didn't drink coffee forever. I hate instant. So then I started having an occasional 'real' one and it was good. And then we got an outstanding coffee machine as a wedding present courtesy of hubby's office - cue addiction. I do three a day - two in the morning, one before drop-off and one after, and one in the arvo with hubby. How would a WAHM work until midnight every night without it?
Ah ha! I have your answer. After Heidi was born she WOULD NOT sleep. I was lucky to get 1 hour in 24 for shuteye. It was a living nightmare.
I got up to 20 cups a day of instant coffee - 1 teaspoon. Started hallucinating, would stand next to my husband in the supermarket and not recognise him. Also panic attacks, not fun.
So there is your answer 20 cups a day of instant plus sleep deprivation is a VERY BAD THING.
These days I'm on two cups a day only but I have the real stuff made in the coffee pot at home. Australian grown coffee beans too - from up north QLD way.
I do have the occasional Pepsi and if I've had a very bad day a cup of coffee after midday. But usually I'm limited to my two cups in the morning. Trying to adjust to drinking tea :blech:
I would say when you start licking the drips off of the machine...that's too much.
I received an espresso machine for Christmas 2 years back and in addition to that I make 2 POTS a day in my 12-cup machine. Hold on. Before you gasp - I'm one of "those" peeps that drinks, dumps, refills, so in all - I average about 57 cups a day. (bad guesstimation)
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that 3 cups plus 2 tsp of instant doesn't qualify you for therapy.
-From one serious coffee addict
I've never been able to like coffee, I have tried, but am unable to develop a taste for it. I am a tea girl. I have been drinking tea since I was an infant. I have about 6 huge mugs of tea a day, and have been thinking that that might be too much. In my defense, I have never, ever ordered a chai latte - I like real tea!
OMG Marita. You win. (walks away in defeat...)
I'm 3 a day. I could do more, easily, but it keeps me up at night if I drink it after about 3:00 in the afternoon.
And, uh, stand back, I think I feel a coffee post coming on...
I think 2-3 cups keep me human. But I am *very* particular about my coffee. It needs to be from my Senseo machine, it has to be in my Bodum glass-walled coffee cups (possibly the only luxury item in my daggy kitchen), and - inexplicably - it has to be stirred with a metal spoon, not one of the kids' plastic ones. Weird, I know...
Hey Bern,
I am the non-coffee but V drinker like your friend! Hasn't given me heart palpitations yet but once i had two cans in a day and was up till 3am the next morning! I struggle to get through the day without it - esp teaching!
Wx
I don't drink hot coffee, bleurk, but I do have the occasional iced coffe even though it sends me crazy hyper!
first one before I open my eyes. 3 on average per day. I love it. Skim Cap with a sugar please.
I don't drink coffee at all and I drink maybe four cups of tea a year. I don't drink any of those energy drinks either, I'm just not a fan of the caffeine buzz.
I have a coffee every 3 days or so at home. If out, I will always order a cappuccino because I do like real coffee. Just not the hugest fan of instant. But I started drinking when I was like 12. Thanks Dad. Probably not the wisest decision to let your pre-teen to start on caffiene. When I was about 20 I started drinking tea, and now I have at least 3 cups of tea a day, thankfully I have at least cut out the sugar. Less in summer, often more in winter. But I don't find the caffiene affects my sleep, so I never stop myself before bed or anything like that.
Interesting to read that around 20 with no sleep would be too much! Hallucinations, eek!
Oh, and PS, chai tea? Ew, that's not tea, thats warm cinnamon and milk, yuck! But then, I dont believe anything with a herb in it is real tea either.....
@kurrabikid.....those Senseo machines are brilliant! Ours is retired now (and the cost of the Senseo bags used to be a bit much) but the coffee from those is wonderful!
I kid myself that I can't handle the caffeine in coffee, so instead I have about 382 cups of strong tea a day. I think it's just that I don't like the taste/aftertaste of coffee. Love the smell though. And there is a part of me that protests that coffee really does do much weirder things to my system than tea, despite being pretty similar amounts of caffeine (apparently).
And although I'm no coffee wanker I am a tea wanker - I like my tea just so - so much so that I refuse where possible to buy tea from a shop. What is with charging $3 plus for a 5 cent tea bag dangled in some luke warm water? In those little silver pots that always leak? With a thimble full of milk that is nowhere near adequate for my tea-drinking needs? I.Dont.Think.So We can do this shit better at home. Same philosophy behind my husband's refusal to pay $20 for a steak sandwich.
PS But for you Bern, I did do cafe tea. Although it WAS a tea latte which makes it special*.And I do recall reiterating the above complaint. I'm nothing if not consistent.
*Special as in unique. There's a reason why 'tea latte' hasn't caught on. For non-tea-drinkers, just trust me on this.
I do 3 a day too, maybe 4 sometimes. I just bought a Nespresso too...in love!
@Lucy, @kurrabikid, Methinks I need to investigate these Senseo machines. I rather like my brother in laws Nespresso also.
Bern, I think the acceptable number of coffees is how many coffees you would LIKE to have in a day divided by 7 (divide by 3 if you've been kept up all night by screaming banshees.)
I drink as much as I want, I don't count, and I don't hold back. Bwa, ha, ha, ha, ha! And when I go to Starbucks, I order a VENTI COFFEE with room for cream (yeah, that's right, just good old COFFEE)!
I drink probaby 3 to 4 cups a day, proper espresso machine coffee. M makes me a latte first thing in the morning (otherwise I'm an unbearible ogre) and then I make a americano later in the day (I can't steam the milk for beans) ... then usually have one in the afternoon before collecting the Boy from school (You have to work up to these things right?) If I'm out I normally have iced lattes at starbucks. I'm not a coffee priss none of that half caf double decaf venti dry wet whip vanilla soy latte for me, but I am a coffee snob it has to be good espresso beans and I can't stand it if they scald the milk.. *blurggh*
teehee! "more heart palpitations than a fat kid at a cupcake party"
I agree with the consensus that more than 3 is starting to tip over the edge of too many! Instant coffee should definitely be saved for desperation, you don't need a Nespresso machine, a grinder & plunger changed my home coffee world :)
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