Falling off the wagon one day at a time

The question: should I welcome caffeine addiction back into my life?

Ever since January, I’ve been living life sans regular coffee. I’ve had the very occasional latte (which doesn’t have the same physical downsides as regular coffee, b/c the caffeine goes through your system much more quickly) and a few cups of decaf. Other than that, it’s been all black tea, which has caffeine but not as much as coffee. Or if it does, it’s a much smoother up and down. As a result, I’ve been better rested and had no heart palpitations this semester. What’s not to love?

This past week, though, I’ve felt coffee sneaking insidiously back into my life. Well, I guess I can’t really call it insidious if I go into a Starbucks and order it, but I was splitting w/ D and he wanted iced coffee, and they don’t make that decaf, so… there is an increasing trend toward iced coffee in our household, plus, Starbucks just sent me a pound of espresso beans as an “I’m sorry” gift for the one day last month that my card didn’t work. Am I just supposed to let those go bad, unbrewed b/c I’m on a no caffeine kick? With a food shortage on?

Of course, using it would mean replacing my broken French press carafe, and once I’ve done that, I’m certainly going to want to get my money’s worth. Come to think of it, that broken carafe is the main reason I managed to get off the bean in the first place. That and a whole bottle of ibuprofen and a long term cold.

Then, Dunkin Donuts announced free iced coffee on Thursdays for the next month.

So now, I feel that I have a choice. I can either stay blissfully unaddicted, able to sleep and breathe without fear, or I can give in to that craving for delightfully bitter rollercoaster of being a coffee drinker.

The weird thing is, having been off it for so long, I can feel the difference every time I drink regular coffee. I get moodier and more distractable and have a harder time going to sleep at night. So, staying off seems like a no brainer, but it just tastes so good…

if any SoFla peeps reading this want a pound of S-bucks espresso beans, feel free to step in and save me from myself!