I was wondering if anyone else has this experience?

About 18 months ago when I started roasting, I could look forward to 3:30 or 4 PM when I was losing steam and have a cup of drip or an espresso. I'd feel a caffeine pickup and it helped get through the day.

Now, a cup of coffee doesn't do anything for me (except taste-wise). I can drink a 8 ounce cup and feel nothing. Even before bed. In fact, I often now drink a cup before bed and go right to sleep. Have I developed a tolerance to caffeine? Is this typical? For me, it's unfortunate, though better than developing an over sensitivity.

dan

Yep caffeine is a substance that you get used too. If you drink some daily your neurotransmitter will develop more receiver to capt the caffeine. So if you skip the caffeine for one day, or two after having some daily, your neurotransmitter will be under activated and thus, symptom of dependence appear.

Basically, the more you drink, the more you need to have some caffeine effect. It's a drug

I've been drinking up to around 4 to 10 espressi per day for the last 33 or so years. I still find that anything much after 4 pm will keep me up at night. I do not drink coffee after dinner unless I am on holiday and also drinking amaro etc. and even then only rarely.

I also find that my caffeine tolerance goes up and down for reasons I have yet to fathom.

I enjoy coffee the most when I limit myself to two drinks a week. When I'm on that schedule, each drink guarantees an afternoon full of creativity and inspiration!

I rather have seen caffeine addiction in myself, when I used to drink coffee before discovering espresso. And it was still giving the buzz, too.

Drinking only espresso gives me all benefits of coffee (to give an example, it is very good for breathing, drying lungs, helping digestion) without unwanted caffeine buzz and addiction symptoms - I can not have any espresso for a week or longer and not have any symptoms, other then some of my health problems slightly coming up.
Yet why would I deprive myself of goodness, health and pleasure???

I can also drink a shot and set off right to sleep.

On the other hand, having any other way brewed then espresso(*) brings some agitation and then something like a need after certain time - I don't think this is only caffeine or any other things extracted from the beans. That is interesting question in itself, I think, what is extracted depending on the method - I searched and it seems to not be covered?


(*)other methods I tried are only drip and steep&release

One thing I read is it could be related to hydration...
Drinking coffee while dehydrated, can make you even more tired. I think I find it to be true, and therefore try to drink lots of water during the day... along with my ~5 double shots

I don't feel any ill effects when drinking 4 to 5 doubles spread out over the day, but when dialing in a coffee, underextractions seem to give me more buzz.

benm5678 wrote:One thing I read is it could be related to hydration...
Drinking coffee while dehydrated, can make you even more tired.

Interesting.
Might be true for the OP; for me it's not the case - I never feel worse after espresso and honestly I find I sleep better if I drink a shot in less then an hour before bed - I have a better rest.
But I drink a lot of water - particularly hot water, about 2 liters per day; mineral water is a small bottle max (0.5l)

Whilst I have noticed the morning pick up affect of caffeine I seem to have a relatively high tolerance to it and can drink it quiet late in the day and not be kept awake.

But as part of a health kick I gave up caffeine (long with wheat, dairy and alcohol) for a couple of months. The first few days I was fine, then subsequently I noticed I began getting headaches, typically starting around 2-3pm and lasting until I went to sleep. I'd heard of and expected to get caffeine withdrawal and the associated headaches, but nothing prepared me for 2 weeks worth of true skull splitters. It got me thinking as to when the last time I went a substantial length of time without any kind of stimulant (nicotine, caffeine etc). I figured the last time was when I was 18 and went on a month long expedition to Greenland. Since then I've had 13+ years without a break until now.

It's now been 3 months since I stopped and damn am I ever excited about that first cup of caffeinated coffee! I guess I'll see what my real tolerance is like then...

Coffee / caffeine dehydrates you so yeah drink lots of water like someone else mentioned.
Sounds like you need more caffeine because your body got used to it, if you want the effects of it. You can add a small amount of Robusta beans, since they're supposed to be higher in caffeine content if you want, some people have said 20 percent robusta type beans in their coffee could give it a good taste. I never tried it but supposedly robusta beans on their own can taste kind of rubbery and medicinal.