I Stopped Drinking Coffee & It Brought Me Into My Feminine Power
It’s 2004.
Usher’s “Yeah!” is the number one song and Janet Jackson just had an infamous “wardrobe malfunction.”
A 13-year-old Sarah goes to the Starbucks by her high school in Vancouver orders an Americano rather than her usual Vanilla Bean Frappuccino.
The bitterness delights her and she feels perkier than ever. Is this…love?
That’s how my addiction started. I’m Sarah, I run things here at Mystic Rose and I wanted to share my story with you about what happened when I gave up coffee for six weeks. It’s also a how to stop drinking coffee guide if you want to push the reset button on caffine.
And I can already tell what you’re going to say...
“Why? Why would you do that?”
And those are super valid questions. Let me get this one thing straight — I love coffee.
Why did you stop drinking coffee?
I met with a health coach to go over my goals and she mentioned that caffeine is a toxin. And, if you’re having it every day, then your body never gets the chance to clear it out of its system.
This kind of vaguely made sense to me, and while I didn’t exactly take her at her word, I decided that it can’t hurt to give it a try. So I looked in the calendar and picked a date that was six weeks away and decided I wouldn’t have my morning coffee tomorrow or for six weeks until that date came.
Mostly, I was just curious about what would happen if I stopped such a big and unconscious habit.
I loved coffee so much. It was such a huge part of my identity. From working as a barista and attending coffee festivals to grinding my own third-wave beans and small-batch roasts… it was a whole mood for me.
Plus, there’s the nostalgia for me. When I lived in Vietnam, I guzzled their chocolatey, caramelly dark roasts served with sweet and creamy condensed milk, especially over ice. And my obsession goes back to some of my most formative high school years. But I managed to do it.
How To Stop Drinking Coffee
I was drinking at least one cup of coffee each morning, sometimes another in the afternoon or even a third coffee if I was feeling wild.
So I used a substitute: mushroom hot chocolate.
I know it doesn’t exactly sound tasty or sexy. But it worked well to wean me off coffee and I still enjoy drinking it.
My morning routine looked like this: wake up, get a glass of water, turn on the kettle and make coffee, sit with my coffee on the couch and pull tarot cards.
So for the next six weeks, I did basically the same thing, except instead of coffee, I’d use a mushroom mix.
There were four kinds I had on rotation:
1. Four Sigmatic Mushroom Cacao with Cordyceps
Little packs that were SUPER ginger flavoured, supposed to be the perky option from the company to give you a boost so I had this in the mornings.
2. Four Sigmatic Mushroom Cacao with Reishi
These single-serving packs were 3.5 ounces of sweet and cinnamony chocolate deliciousness. They were perfect for when I was craving an afternoon cup and good as a treat for after work.
3. Harmonic Arts 5 Mushroom Chocolate
A bit more labour intensive since you had to make it in the blender but I found it to be more sustainable/affordable than the four sigmatic packs and I’d add a bit of cinnamon to make it taste like my favourite
4. Coffee Of The Earth by Gaia Garden Herbals
A mix of herbs and ‘shrooms that you boiled for 20 minutes on the stove and then strained into your cup. It smelled like chai and tasted a lot like coffee thanks to the roasted chicory and dandelion root.
Do You Feel Tired If You Don’t Drink Coffee?
When I told some close friends I’d be doing this no-coffee experiment I was met with a lot of, “Oh, that’s cool, but I could NEVER do that.” I felt like some people think that they’re useless zombies without coffee!
There were days during my experiment when I did feel tired without my coffee. But it was a good thing. I would feel like I was lagging a bit or hitting a slump sometime between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
And here’s the thing: tiredness is a normal cue from your body.
I was feeling a slump because maybe I’d been staring at a screen for six hours straight or I hadn’t given myself a break. The tiredness I felt was my body trying to signal something to me, and by drinking a coffee and “powering through” I was actually being super masculine and not honouring my feminine self at all.
What’s It Like Without Coffee?
On Day One of the experiment, I woke up and had mushroom hot chocolate instead of coffee. I still felt good. I thought maybe I wasn’t as perky as usual but that it could be in my head.
My workday flowed well and I wasn’t sluggish at all. I even made myself a second cup of mushroom chocolate around 1 p.m.
By Day Nine, I noticed that I didn’t miss coffee at all.
One month into the experiment, I felt good. Overall, I felt more calm and more chill.
I replaced the ritualistic aspect of coffee with a mushroom hot chocolate at first, but there were days where I skipped it and had just water or herbal tea instead.
I felt more like myself and that I was relaxing into my soft, gentle nature more.
There were times in the first month where I felt like I wanted a London Fog or a Pumpkin Spice Latte for a dose of cheer, but overall I was fine without them.
At the end of the experiment, I was really surprised by the results. I had pretty much lost my obsessive love of coffee.
Where I used to feel dependant, I now feel like I could take it or leave it. Overall, I feel much more like my softer, calmer, gentler, more feminine self.
I’m looking forward to still treating myself to the occasional latte at the cafe or to a freshly ground and brewed french press on a weekend morning. But it’s more like a “want” and less of a “need.” This experiment completely changed my relationship with coffee for the better.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for entertainment purposes only.
