What Are the Effects of Caffeine in Decaf Coffee?
Do you take your coffee in decaf because you are wary of the effects caffeine may have on the body? In case you are not aware of it, there is still some caffeine in decaf coffee, so you may want to watch out how many cups of coffee you drink in a day even if it is decaffeinated.
Just how much caffeine in decaf coffee are we talking about, anyway? There are studies in recent years that showed that a typical cup of decaf sold in popular coffee shop chains across the country can have caffeine levels ranging from eight milligrams to 13 milligrams. But these are just averages. There are coffee houses where the decaf coffee sold therein has been tested to contain 30 milligrams of caffeine.
Decaf Can Bring Adverse Caffeine Effects Too
All these mean that you are not really safe from negative caffeine effects even if your choice of brew is decaffeinated. The amount of caffeine you take in everyday can still accumulate, especially if you are in the habit of drinking five or more cups of decaf in a day in the belief that the absence of caffeine in your brew leaves you free to indulge.
So, what effects and what changes to the body can you expect from ingesting caffeine in decaf coffee? Because coffee is a stimulant, there are the usual effects such as restlessness, nervousness, increased heartbeat, shaky hands, inability to sleep, among other things. You should also know that it takes at least four hours for caffeine to be flushed out of the body’s system, so if you habitually drink too much coffee in a day, you can really lose sleep over it.
Caffeine is also addictive. Even the small amounts of caffeine in decaf coffee can make your body want more caffeine in order to function normally. If you do not get your fix, you may experience headaches, irritability, nausea and other symptoms associated with withdrawal. Caffeine is actually the most widely available drug in the world.
However, how the caffeine actually takes effect in your body depends on a number of factors. Your age, sex, weight and innate caffeine sensitivity are just a few of these factors that play a part in how your body reacts with caffeine.
How to Avoid Caffeine Effects in Decaf Coffee
There is only one way to avoid caffeine effects fully, even in decaf coffee, and that is to abstain from it completely. But if you really need to have your cup of decaf every day, you should make it a point to cut back on your coffee intake. Just one or two in a day is enough.
If you are ordering coffee from your favorite coffee shop, you can play it safe by testing a few drops of your usual brew with a caffeine testing kit. Such a kit is easy to use and you will know if there is too much caffeine in your decaf coffee within a couple of minutes.
