Caffeine

[Mandos]

Am I the only person for whom caffeine doesn't *really* seem to have much effect?

[sparqui]

I have to say that caffeine had little adverse effect that I could notice when I was younger but in the last many years, I find that I can't drink it in the evenings or at night without risking a restless night of sleep. I also have gone from drinking some 7-10 cups of coffees in my 30s to 1-2 cups in my 40s.

[Mandos]

Well, I can't tell the difference in myself before or after a cup of coffee.  Sugar, on the other hand, I can sometimes tell the difference.

[steffie]

I think for me it may be a psychological addiction.  Some days I'm grumpy in the morning if I haven't had my coffee, but on those mornings when I am too busy to stop at Tim's, I can't really (truth be told) see a difference in my energy levels. I can drink coffee in the evenings and still get to sleep.  Hmm. Do you think one can build a resistance/tolerance to this drug, as with any other?  The biggest side effect that I notice is an upset digestive system.

[skdadl]

Coffee is an aperient, I'm told. (aper: to open ...)

I almost never drink coffee after lunch, seldom even at lunch. But I do slosh back too much of it all morning. I can start to feel a bit shaky or woozy after 6, 7 cups.

I do feel it clears my head when I first wake up, but it can definitely be unkind to the digestive and nervous systems both.

[Boom Boom]

If I don't have my two cups in the morning, I get a migraine later in the day. I know I'm addicted to the stuff - but I almost never drink coffee after 10 am. Just two cups in the morning, to wake me up, and to stave off the migraines.

[Boom Boom]

  New energy drink rules announced
 
excerpt:
 
Panel urges sales limits, labels
 
The panel, however, recommended that the energy drinks in question be sold to adults only, and from behind the pharmacists' counter at drug stores. It also said the beverages should be labelled "stimulant drug-containing drinks."
 
And it recommended the government make an effort to differentiate caffeine-laden drinks from sports drinks such as Gatorade and other electrolyte-replacement beverages that are considered safe for children.
 
The caffeinated energy drinks have taken off in recent years, with various brands multiplying on store shelves. Health Canada has estimated that about seven million of them are consumed every month in Canada.
 
They usually contain about the same amount of caffeine as a couple of cups of coffee, but the effects on teenagers, and the effects of the drinks when mixed with alcohol, have not been properly explored, the panel said.
 
The drinks need to be considered a drug, not a food, the report urged.
 
"In the absence of real therapeutic and medically indicated benefits, the panel considers that the risks associated with the use of these drugs outweigh the benefits," it stated.
 
(CBC had a medical doctor on the news saying these caffeine loaded drinks are going to be a huge cardiovascular issue in the years to come)

[Herr Magoo]

The scariest is that you can buy some of them at the LCBO (the liquor store) already mixed with alcohol.
 
I know that I can probably handle, let's say, drinking six cans of 7% alcohol in an evening, but I have NO IDEA whether I can handle that amount of taurine or ginkgo biloba or caffeine or whatever.

[lagatta]

I have also seen these things in the SAQ = LCBO with names like "Rockstar" - the same one is sold elsewhere and obviously targets underaged kids.

No desire to drink such a concoction, with or without added booze. But I'm not 15.

Going back to the inception of this thread, like sparqui, I've lost my tolerance for coffee after lunch or so, and rarely drink coffee later than in the morning. The exception is meeting a friend at one of the (wonderful) Italian caffè-bars in my nabe.

What effects of coffee on teenagers? I always drank coffee as a teenager, at home for breakfast and at cafés, with friends. I had a very serious cow milk allergy as a kid, so that was out of the question.

[Boom Boom]

I see kids buying those drinks all the time here - maybe it's a cheap high?
 
I never drank coffee as a kid - only tea.
 
I walked into Starbucks in Ottawa once and ordered a 'regular' coffee just to see if I could throw them for a loop - nope, they had regular.
 
I've never had a fancy coffee as far as I recall.
 
I almost never have a coffee after 11 am - I have enough difficulty getting to sleep as it is.
 
There's one of these high caffeine drink manufacturers (from Scotland I think)  that have been complaining about Canada's relatively low tolerance for caffeine in drinks for years and threatened to go to court - that's probably why the Health Minister folded like a cheap suit today. Expect more cardiovascular problems in our population soon as these high caffeine drinks become more popular.

[Herr Magoo]

As a young kid I was given regular tea by my grandmother on occasion, but never noticed any stimulant effects.
 
In my teens I decided I should start drinking coffee, as it seemed to me to be a social thing as much as a beverage, and I didn't want to be left out.  My first few cups went down hard, but around about my fifth or sixth time, I was wanting it, bigtime!
 
My personal caffeine record was set when I worked in a mall, right across from a Timothy's Coffees.  They had a deal wherein you could buy wooden "coffee coins" at a fairly reduced price (something like buy 10, get 3 more free) and I would often do this.  As a result, getting a coffee didn't seem like buying it so much, and I think I drank more than I would have if I were getting out my wallet every time.  Anyway:  five jumbo coffees (about 24 oz), light roast, before noon.  I was high in the same way you'd be if you washed down a Contac C with a glug of codeine cough syrup.  :)

[Antonia]

Normally I make a pot of coffee marked "four cups" but drink it in two 12 oz mugs with about an inch and a half of skim milk. I never drink coffee the rest of the day, unless I am driving to Montreal and need to stay alert. (By the way, now I have taken to sugar-free Red Bull on the road because I prefer it to the Tim Horton's muddy water. It's the only time I drink that.)

This morning I had to be up super early (at least for me.) I was downtown and got a venti Starbucks non-fat latte. By 11 a.m. I was falling asleep. I had to go home and walk the dog and vote and I actually did nap.

I needs my caffeine.

[Boom Boom]

I've never tasted Red Bull - is it a cola drink like Coke or Pepsi?

[Boom Boom]

Energy Drinks and Arrhythmia
 
excerpt:
 
 Energy drinks -- soft-drink-like, caffeinated beverages that often also contain herbal stimulants, vitamins and other ingredients -- may be more likely to cause arrhythmia than other caffeine sources because of their sky-high caffeine content. Some energy drinks contain as much as 500 milligrams of caffeine per serving, according to consumer safety advocate group Injury Board. While caffeine-induced arrhythmias usually aren't serious, it is possible for a caffeine overdose from drinking multiple, highly caffeinated energy drinks to cause death in someone with an underlying heart problem. Thus, it's imperative to limit caffeine intake from energy drinks and other sources if you have a heart condition.
 
(I've had a noisy heart valve for several years now, but that's not quite what the article is about)

[lagatta]

I make a small pot of stovetop espresso (mocha) in the morning which I drink straight, and nowhere near the strength of Neopolitain coffee. Sometimes I'll have another.

Boom Boom, at the caffès around here, espresso and cappuccino are not "fancy coffee" - these bars all have a working-class background, though some (like Caffè Internazionale) have gone a bit upscale with a nicer décor, food beyond sandwiches and a wine list, but a coffee, whether an espresso, a "caffè canadese" or a cappuccino, is consistently cheaper at any of them than its equivalent at the overpriced Starbucks or Second Cup. Of course the cappuccinos are not the horrifically overblown concoction made by such chains.

I'd like to be able to boast that I've never been at a Starbuck$, but I have once, at a chain bookshop (Indigo? Chapters? in suburban Ottawa south, as I was meeting someone there. I had tea.

The mystery of the Starbucks "short" cappuccino: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/everyday_economics/2006/01/starbucks_economics.html