[gdjskshh]

Hedge your bets - drink decaf instead of regular every other day.

Nicotine gum sort of helps for the decaf days. I'm looking for other non-caff stimulant options if anyone has thoughts.

[dingnuts]

please do not casually recommend nicotine to people. it is not like caffeine. maybe you are able to use it a little without getting addicted, but that would make you an outlier. it is not a replacement for a cup of coffee in any form, and you're casually suggesting others play fast and loose with a nasty and horribly addictive substance.

God and nicotine gum is so nasty, it makes you burp and has this weird acrid chemical taste. Just awful.

[gdjskshh]

The mode of injestion impacts how addictive something is. Nicotine via gum is less addictive that smoking, which is less addictive than vaping.

The unpleasant experience you describe also helps to limit addictiveness, as does not using two days in a row.

I find caffeine much more addictive than nicotine. We're all different.

[jazzyjackson]

Yerba mate is differently caffeinated (hopefully you know decaf is really just half caff), plus it's kinda fun getting the gourd and the bomba. I recommend meta mate out of Berlin, they export the good stuff out of Brazil, much greener than grocery store / commodity varieties

There's mushroom coffees that claim to be stimulating, you can look at four sigma for that, tho my favorite was their instant coffee with cordyceps, good pre workout.

Then there is breathwork of the wimhof variety, "get high on your own supply" deep breathing and ice baths, all natural.

[esperent]

> hopefully you know decaf is really just half caff

In the US, to be labelled as decaf more than 99% of caffeine must be removed. The EU wording, iirc, is a bit weird but amounts to essentially the same requirement.

So decaf really is decaf. The only people who might notice some effect are those who never drink any caffeinated drinks at all, and even then I'd say they wouldn't notice much.

[SapporoChris]

Regarding decaf. "The authors suggest the following standard values for the United States: coffee (5 oz) 85 mg for ground roasted coffee, 60 mg for instant and 3 mg for decaffeinated" https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8603790/

[drgo]

just get unsmoked yerba and never drink it burning hot to lower the risk of esophageal cancer

[blacksmith_tb]

Ephedra[1] aka "Mormon tea" or Ma Huang, though it can cause palpitations (and clear your sinuses, something for everyone).

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedra_(plant)#Human_use