How To Check Decaf Side Effects, Flavours and Record Who Likes What

When we travelled to Utah in the USA, we were surprised to find that the Mormons are not allowed to drink coffee. Coffee, being a stimulant. A drug.

I started drinking decaf last thing at night. Then a doctor suggested I would sleep better, and not jump up in the night to go to the toilet, if  I stopped caffeinated drinks after lunch time.

More recently our son decided to drink only decaf coffee. He cut down to no more than five cups of caffeinated coffee, and gradually reduced the number of caffeinated coffees, until he ended up drinking only decaf. 

Caffeine is in lots of things. We now no more than years ago about what exactly goes into our food and drinks, and we have numerous sources of information.

I read somewhere, I believe it was on Quora, that decaf is made with different beans which have more fat. I did not see any evidence for this. If it is true, it might apply to some brands and not others.

The Nescafe site said they use the same beans, but treat them differently. 

Wikipedia describes different systems, such as the Swiss water system.

Decaf has been around for longer than you might think.

With so many coffees, and decafs, now available, how do you keep track of them? How do you remember what you liked and what the rest of your family liked? 

Recording Tastes of Groups Of Drinkers

When I had a group of workmen in my house and I made tea for them every day, I kept a list of who took sugar and how many lumps, and who took milk. I stuck the list on the back of the top cupboard door. This works if you have the same people on a regular basis. 

If you have a constantly changing group of people, such as in a restaurant, or a club, or workplace, you could make a list on a laptop, and save it for future reference. You could share it in google docs, or print it out and place it on a clipboard.

Recording Favourite Drinks of Singles and Pairs of Drinkers

Nespresso Capsules

Storage

If you have a selection of coffee bottles or cardboard packets, you can devise a system running left to right. This would also work for the short sighted or blind. If you drink the Italian way, with mild breakfast coffee and strong coffee after a big evening meal, then you would put the regular coffee on the left and the espresso at the right.

If you operate the way we drink in London, with a strong coffee to wake you up in the morning, but decaf at night, or after lunch, you place the stronger coffee on the left and the decaf on the right. 

You can mark his and hers in different colours with coloured pens, or stickers, or stars on post-it notes.

We keep capsules upright on a work surface, or flat in a drawer, with the name of the coffee written in pen on the inside of the lid of the box.

If it's just you, or a couple, such as a husband and wife, or parent and child or grandchild, you can instead mark the container or containers.

You can buy a metal rack for capsules. We soon found that, with a regular monthly order, we had more capsules than space on the small metal rack.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decaffeination

How To Limit Your Coffee At Home Or When Travelling

Problem
I was having trouble sleeping. When I told my doctor I was having trouble sleeping at night, he asked me if I drank coffee. How many coffees do I drink in a day? No idea. I just drink coffee when I want to drink feel tired, tired, see somebody else have a coffee, get offered a coffee, sit in a restaurant, get free coffee with a hotel breakfast, have dinner out with friends or family or on business and want to prolong the meal.

Answer
Never mind counting how many coffees I had in the past. That can't be changed. He wanted me to limit my coffee drinking in the future.

He recommended that I should have no more than two cups of full strength coffee in a day, and have them in the morning. He suggested one cup of coffee at breakfast, one for elevenses, a decaffeinated coffee at lunch time. Then no more.

This works well if you have regular meal times.

If you are travelling on different time zones, it can be harder.

I find it easier to steer to a food than to resist one. Instead of planning to not have a coffee, I plan to have a glass of water. Before I am offered a coffee, I ask for a glass of water. That way, I am already full and not thirsty.

I have completed the transaction of giving and receiving.


Coded Cups
At home, or in a holiday home or rental home when away on business, you can code your cups. If you want to have no more than two or three cups of coffee in a day, or a 24 hour hotel stay, set out your two or three cups with the coffee capsules or teaspoons ready.

When you have drunk your coffee, wash the cup and put it aside.

Alternatively, keep the used cup upright and the unused cups upside down. (If you prefer, do it the other way. The cups waiting to be used are upright, the cups you have finished with are upside down.)

If you are at home or staying or working in a building with a kitchen with assorted cups and mugs, use a cup style system. You could have a large cup in a bright red or busy pattern for first thing in the morning, a cooler colour, plainer pattern, smaller cup for elevenses, a smaller espresso cup for after lunch (or for a decaffeinated coffee after dinner).

Cutting Coffee When Travelling
I don't drink coffee on airplanes. Not in economy class. I don't want to be kept awake when I need sleep. Nor do I find the coffee appetising.

If you are working, travelling or living alone, you can easily set up the system you prefer for yourself.  If you are living with or working with or travelling with a group of regimented scientific, orderly types, they will soon get used to your system and remember it.

If not, simply write your preferences down, type them and print them and stick them on a pin board or fix them with a magnet on the communal fridge door for whoever makes the coffee.

Failing all else, make yourself a tee-shirt. For example: 

I drink one caffeinated coffee for breakfast 

and 

one decaff at lunch time.

The easiest way to control your coffee intake is to make your own coffee in your hotel room - or car, or even in a tent on a hike.

Wake-up Coffee When Travelling
You can buy compact travel coffee makers which take capsules from Amazon. This month a member of my family took a travel coffee maker on several hikes up volcanoes in Indonesia and motorbike trips to Malaysia. We had bought a compact coffee maker as a birthday present. Apparently it was a great success.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

 I have several more posts on drinks, foods learning languages, and travelling and around the world. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.