Go a Whole Week Without Tea or Coffee
There was a couple of reasons for sticking this one on my list. Firstly, I’m a Barista by trade so my life tends to revolve around the consumption of coffee. Secondly, anyone who knows anything about Scottish people will know about their absolute obsession with tea. Tea is basically another food group for us.
I figured that I probably consume far too much of both, with at least a cup of each a day on average, and so this was a good challenge for myself.
As it happens I actually struggle with caffeine because of my heart palpitations, so things like Red Bull and Jaegermeister are off limits to me. With this in mind, I wanted to see the difference it made by cutting out caffeine altogether for a whole week.
Originally I wanted to do this challenge over the summer but with being on holiday, and then everything that went on with my job, I lost track of time and now we’re suddenly in December (?!).
I work 40 hours a week, over 5 days, and at this time of year, it is particularly busy. I also happened to choose a week in which I had several early starts (8am openings) and a Christmas work night out to survive (and recover from) all without my usual caffeine in take.
I surprised myself with how easy I found it. The first few days were pretty horrible and hard to get through purely because of how aware I was that I could NOT have my usual cup of coffee in the morning at work.
However, the hardest part of the challenge was not having a cup of tea after getting home and settled from work, or before going to bed.
The biggest difference I found was that by the end of the week I didn’t even think about having a cup of coffee. I also didn’t have a single chest pain the whole week (although whether I can say this was directly because of not having caffeine or because I just had a good week, I don’t know – I’d have to give it up for a much longer to really test the difference).
My alternative to coffee at work, in my first few days, was our Salted Caramel Drinking Chocolate. I absolutely love this stuff and can’t get enough of it. Seriously if you haven’t been to a Hotel Chocolat Cafe before, you NEED to go. You can buy the grated chocolate mixture in tins from retail stores and online as well. (Nothing like a bit of promotion for your own workplace eh?)
I had my first cup of tea this morning after 7 days and it was glorious.
Here’s a picture of some coffee to finish off this rambling post…
P.S., Here’s the link to the Hotel Chocolat website: http://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/
maliewatson 