4 Things You Forgot About Coffee

4 min read

Grabbing a morning coffee is a vital part of the daily routine.

It’s so critical you may have overlooked a few things. Such as the negative effects on your budget, health, and grooming.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about. Don’t worry!

I’ve got you covered.

I can tell you how your coffee habit is slowly killing you.

Your Coffee Habit is Killing You

I started drinking coffee when I began my career in corporate America. I progressed from the break room coffee pot. To the Starbucks latte. And ended with the French Press dark roast.

I love my coffee. It doesn’t always love me back.

Through the years I experienced some negative effects. And that’s what I want to discuss.  All in all, I found four ways a coffee habit can screw you. The first involves your wallet.

1. Draining Your Budget

Coffee from my local coffee house is the best. It’s so good that I developed a daily habit during the quarantine. Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about it, but self-quarantine gave me a lot of time to reflect.

While updating my monthly budget I realized that I was spending $100/month on coffee. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal; except I was getting my coffee through a drive-through window.  This didn’t ‘spark joy’ for me.

Without the ability to sit down and enjoy my morning brew, getting a coffee became routine. Paying $100/month on coffee felt like paying $100/month to tie my shoes. It didn’t make sense.

So, I investigated the cost per cup to make coffee at home. You won’t believe the math.

You can get 4 lbs of coffee beans at Costco for $29.99.

Let’s do the math on that:

One 4 lb bag of coffee beans makes 336 cups of coffee. This works out to $0.09/cup.

I paid $2.48/cup at the coffee house for my morning java. That’s a 2,755% markup.

What the F&*k !?!?

I think it’s time to use my automatic coffee maker.

2. Stresses You Out

During the weeks with a heavy workload, I noticed I felt anxious. This is unusual for me, so I experimented with different remedies to find the culprit.

I switched to decaf for two weeks. And Voila’!

My mood leveled out.

I didn’t think a coffee a day was a big deal. But it turns out that it is.

If you work a stressful job, you don’t need help adding cortisol to your bloodstream. But that’s what you do by consuming coffee.

Coffee is a stimulant. And the stimulating effect is driven by caffeine.

This drug will alert you. But that’s not all it will do. In the process of alerting you, caffeine will give you a massive cortisol dump. Whether you need it or not.

Raising cortisol is great in a fight-or-flight situation. It’s not great as a chronic stress reaction. Increased cortisol prevents insulin production and raises your blood pressure. Given enough time, you’ll end up with a cardiovascular disease. Or diabetes. Or both.  

The good news is that the cortisol response is reduced for people who ingest caffeine on a daily basis. The bad news is that cortisol will supercharge a heightened sympathetic nervous system.

The bottom line is to choose your beverages wisely. Decaf might be the best option.

3. Stains Your Teeth

I’ve noticed my teeth change from hitting the coffee pot every day. My pearly whites turned to desert tans.

Turns out that the tannins in coffee can stain your teeth from as little as 1 cup per day.

I’ve made sure to add some crest white strips to my routine. And I visit the dentist twice per year to combat any issues.

It’s just sad that I have to spend more money on my teeth because of coffee.

4. Ruins Your Sleep

Some nights I sleep like a baby. Others, I toss and turn for 45 minutes trying to get to sleep. What’s the difference?

You guessed it. Coffee!

On days that I have a 3:30 pm coffee, my sleep is affected. This is because coffee has a half-life of 3 to 5 hours. In other words, my 12 oz afternoon light roast is equivalent to enjoying a 6 oz coffee at 8:30 pm.

No wonder it’s hard to get to sleep before 10 pm on a week night.

Left unmanaged, coffee will drain your wallet, stress you out, and mess up your sleep schedule.

Drink At Your Own Risk

Considering these risks, I will continue to drink coffee. However, I’m making a few tweaks:

• Make coffee at home 4 days per week.
• Drink caffeine-free herbal tea in the afternoon.
• Manage stress and switch to decaf if I get anxious.

Now that you know the risks of consuming caffeine. You may want to examine your coffee habit.

Check out the tools I use to save money and make fresh hot beverages at home.  

THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. READ THE FULL DISCLAIMER HERE.

Follow the links below:

Bodum Chambord French Press Coffee Maker, 1 Liter, 34 Ounce, Chrome

Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker with Brew Strength Selector

Stash Tea Peppermint Herbal Tea – 100 Count Box of Tea Bags

Resources:

Caffeine Stimulation of Cortisol Secretion Across the Waking Hours in Relation to Caffeine Intake Level

Cortisol – Its Role in Stress, Inflammation, and Indications for Diet Therapy

Fight, Flight, Freeze: What This Response Means

Does Coffee Stain Your Teeth

Sleep and Caffeine