It has been incredibly hard for me to quit as the consumption of caffeine feels directly tied with work performance and mood for me. It also doesn’t help that I love the taste of coffee and the routine.
Exactly why I had such a hard time quitting. I kept rationalizing it by telling myself that abstaining was killing my productivity (it was in the short term.) But after /finally/ quitting it has absolutely been worth it and my productivity is back to where it was plus it's not in manic bursts like it was with caffeine use.
There are a lot of good decaf coffees out there. Also teas.
You don't have to give up the taste or the ritual to cut back on the caffeine, you don't even have to give up caffeine totally. You can cut down a lot on it too.
Off the back of yours and the child comments, I tried a swiss water decaf for the first time (beans) and it tastes amazing - I wouldn’t know it’s not regular coffee.
For reference for anyone interested, I used a Mochamaster filter brewer with these beans (which I freshly grind - which probably helps the taste too):
Lavazza Decaffeinated, 100% Arabica Medium Roast
This is exciting to me as I can finally wean myself off caffeine while keeping my {difficult to kick} coffee habit!
It doesn’t. Some of the Swiss waters are very good. My baseline for coffee is quality single origin Geisha, and good Swiss water is better than most espresso places.
In the UK I use Redber for beans, I drink decaf (Swiss Water prices) fresh ground in the afternoon and have 2-3 caf cups in the morning. Redber had a wide selection and several roast levels.
No caffeine after noon. I use a 2-cup espresso Bialetti stove top, the second smallest.