# How much coffee is too much coffee?!



## Kitkat (Jan 25, 2018)

I've had 4 coffees so far today (all what you would call doubles). It's only 1pm. I really fancy another one but am holding off for a while.

Semi serious question - how much coffee do you drink?

Before I got my Classic, I would have one in the morning on the way to work (Caffe Nero double macchiato) then that would often be my only coffee of the day. Nothing at work and then either a decaf Nespresso when I got home or tea. Occasionally a fully leaded coffee. Maybe a bit more at weekends. However now that I have good coffee on tap, I find myself drinking a lot more. Especially when getting to know a new bean or dialling in something. When things are not quite right but drinkable, I tend to drink it. But then I need to try again with a slightly different grind or something and try that.... I don't seem to have many problems with too much caffeine these days - I used to stick to decaf due to stomach upset with too much caffeine but suspect that was partly due to the extraction and tannins. I can drink quite a bit of the Rave stuff I'm trying without obvious effects of too much caffeine.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Normally about 40g/day in terms of doses, maybe 60g on a heavy day.


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## ScottAllyn (Jan 24, 2018)

I was doing about 475ml (16oz) in the morning for countless years. Lately, I've been doing ~200ml (6.7oz) in the morning and then a single or double (60ml or 120ml) of turkish coffee just after lunch. That's during the weekdays. On weekends and holidays, I usually do that same 200ml in the morning and then a double shot of espresso at some point in the afternoon.


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## GingerBen (Sep 7, 2017)

2 doubles so far today (36g total ground coffee) about to make a v60 with 15g and will probably have another v60 later. That's fairly typical for me at the moment.


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## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

18g maybe 3 or 4 days a week. Rest is decaf

Any more than 18g no matter how early in the day = blurred vision and very little sleep that night :-(


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Everybody is different. I function pretty much the same from 18g-54g a day. If I don't have at least a single I'll get headaches, but in terms of sleep I can easily have two doubles between morning and noon and a single early evening (about 18:00) without it affecting sleep and I can have three doubles before 15-16:00 without it keeping me awake. Too much coffee is when it harms the quality of sleep so find your limit and remember it. For a while I was drinking a double at 18:00-19:00 and it was keeping me awake for a few hours or interrupting sleep, a single doesn't do that so I know my cut off for a double is a few hours before 18:00.


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## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

3 x18g plus a espresso but ran out of coffee now, all before 13.00, I don't drink coffee a 17.30


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## Bainbridge (Feb 4, 2012)

2 filter coffees in the morning then one when I get home after work. About 17g per coffee.


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## Kitkat (Jan 25, 2018)

Quite a lot of variation then.

I'm currently on 64g and am thinking of having another. I'd better be quick if I want to fit it in. I try not to have caffeine too close to bedtime (which is 9.30-10) although it doesn't seem to make much difference. I have problems with sleep but they are long standing (many years) and I've gone though long periods of no coffee at all which made no difference so I know it's not caffeine affecting my sleep. It's hard to judge the effects of too much caffeine as I take meds which can make me feel similar so not sure I'd notice, although I don't seem to have any withdrawl symptoms if I have a day without coffee. I do try in the week not to have anything after about 4-4.30pm. Once I've played with a few different beans I think I'll try some decaf beans.


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## Benjijames28 (Mar 29, 2017)

At work I will usually have a coffee from Costa or McDonalds (I know) and that will be it for day.

Away from work I will usually have an aeropress made with a out 15g of coffee, and if I get chance pop to a decent cafe for a flat white. If I don't go to a cafe I may have a second aeropress.


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## Soll (Nov 10, 2013)

The maximum coffee I have is two per day any more than that I get very jittery


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## Bolta (May 11, 2014)

The half life of caffeine is 5 hours, so after 5 hours your system has half the residual caffeine and after 10 hours it's down to a quarter.


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## Dumnorix (Dec 29, 2017)

No more than 3 doubles a day for me. If I have a 4th it's decaf. I probably average about 2 doubles. As long as I don't have any caffeine after about 6pm it doesn't affect my sleep.

After a period of massive work stress I became quite caffeine intolerant for a while and any caffeine triggered a wave of intense anxiety and paranoia, but that is more and more a thing of the past, thank goodness. I have built back up to 3 doubles gradually over the last 12 months.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

I'm one of those weirdos who can have a flat white at 10.30pm and be fast asleep by midnight.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

No more than 3 (15g) shots for me. Every one is a treat to be savoured


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

3 espressos a day for me, more than that and my guts get a move on


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## IggyK (May 13, 2017)

Two V60s in the morning 15/250 although trying to cut to to 1 in prep for talking a break for a month in April.


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## ashcroc (Oct 28, 2016)

MildredM said:


> No more than 3 (15g) shots for me. Every one is a treat to be savoured


How on earth do you manage to get through so much coffee on only 45g a day⁉


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

ashcroc said:


> How on earth do you manage to get through so much coffee on only 45g a day⁉


x 2 plus the odd visitor (and let me tell you, some are VERY odd)


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Normally ration myself to 2 a day . Weekend is free for all. Oh and when I have guests any rules go out of the window

get eye flutters when I get the extraction right


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

I was watching a program called 100 years younger or something with celebrities trying to shave a decade off their looks (on ITV). I saw a few of them having a coffee enema and I thought taken this way, any amount is too much coffee.


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## les24preludes (Dec 30, 2017)

I only drink decaf, so not sure the health effects of 'too much'. I drink 3 or 4 milky coffees a day, 17g to 20-25g. Semi skimmed milk. Not sure about up to 70g ground coffee in a day, but if this only represents 14g solids (20%) it's not massively worse than the same amount of instant, all of which dissolves. Used to drink more instant anyway, which had no aftertaste so wasn't very satisfying.


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## Donegali (Feb 26, 2018)

About 45g for me, 1 straight after walking the dog at about 7am, then a further 2 through the morning. I tend not to drink coffee after lunch unless its the weekend!


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## SamUK (Apr 18, 2016)

Bolta said:


> The half life of caffeine is 5 hours, so after 5 hours your system has half the residual caffeine and after 10 hours it's down to a quarter.


Interesting... I've never seen it expressed as a half life, always an absolute time... have you got a source for that? I wouldn't mind reading up a bit more.

As for myself, an espresso (17g) at 7am, then usually another 1 or 2 drinks from the following: espresso, flat white, matcha. I usually try to avoid caffeine after 1pm, otherwise I won't sleep well.

The matcha has approximately the same caffeine as an 18g double espresso, or so I'm led to believe, though supposedly it's released more slowly.


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## Batian (Oct 23, 2017)

SamUK said:


> Interesting... I've never seen it expressed as a half life, always an absolute time... have you got a source for that? I wouldn't mind reading up a bit more.
> 
> .


Some info here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7361718?dopt=Abstract


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## xpresso (Jan 16, 2018)

Reading this thread .......... I'm worried







.

Jon.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

DavecUK said:


> I was watching a program called 100 years younger or something with celebrities trying to shave a decade off their looks (on ITV). I saw a few of them having a coffee enema and I thought taken this way, any amount is too much coffee.


Every time I think about this (and I try not to, believe me) I see the person laid on scales and being . . . topped up with coffee. I expect it is more than 34g's worth


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## Batian (Oct 23, 2017)

MildredM said:


> Every time I think about this (and I try not to, believe me) I see the person laid on scales and being . . . topped up with coffee. I expect it is more than 34g's worth


When it is inward, I suppose it would be ' fully washed process' coffee, but when on the way out, more 'honey cart' than 'honey process'???


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## Kitkat (Jan 25, 2018)

I can now categorically answer the question posed in this thread title. Today I was on an introduction to coffee course and tasted a lot of coffee. A LOT of coffee. However much I drank, that is the answer to this question! I now have coffee running though my veins instead of blood.


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## xpresso (Jan 16, 2018)

Kitkat said:


> I can now categorically answer the question posed in this thread title. Today I was on an introduction to coffee course and tasted a lot of coffee. A LOT of coffee. However much I drank, that is the answer to this question! I now have coffee running though my veins instead of blood.


Bit like over doing it with Garlic, that's quite potent.

Jon.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Kitkat said:


> I can now categorically answer the question posed in this thread title. Today I was on an introduction to coffee course and tasted a lot of coffee. A LOT of coffee. However much I drank, that is the answer to this question! I now have coffee running though my veins instead of blood.


Are you glowing


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## Kitkat (Jan 25, 2018)

MildredM said:


> Are you glowing


i think I may be radioactive. Or maybe that's the glow from "shiny coffee equipment " lust.


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## monk (Dec 15, 2017)

I drink around 100 grams most days... Think i might be over doing it lol.


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## the_partisan (Feb 29, 2016)

Usually around 28-35g (2-2.5 filter brews), but sometimes as high as 60g if I got some new gear to play with.


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## Markbuk (Mar 27, 2018)

2-3 doubles 18g each, not to concerned about exceeding that but generally I keep to 3 as a max, I avoid coffee after 7pm but to be honest it doesn't seem to affect my sleep even if I do.

What I find a pain is juggling being sensible and wanting play with new kit or just practice ... Keep thinking about having a coffee morning!!!


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## BebeShanghai (Mar 28, 2018)

This all seems reassuring normal! I'm thinking about embarking on this coffee journey in earnest and have been wondering how to educate my taste buds since I get jittery after a couple of cups of strong coffee and wouldn't usually have more than 2 in a day (half a french press / a capuccino each time, and these are probably wildly different in how much coffee they deliver - I wouldn't know&#8230; yet).

I'd assumed that the many coffee-loving cognoscenti on this forum must be impervious to the effects of caffeine, able to down gallons of the stuff whilst swirling fabulous latte art with steady hands. It's good to know that it's still worth getting into as a light to moderate coffee drinker!


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