Decaf Coffee Can Keep You Awake|Jane Caroline

Last week my roommate had a big night of studying before two tests. I decided to supercharge her studying and brew some coffee. Sure enough, the coffee focused her brain, kept her perky until the wee hours, and added a pinch of motivation in the way only coffee can claim to do.

What I didn’t tell her was that it was decaffeinated! And my thesis was proven true: the idea of coffee motivates! Such a lovely blessing.

But I must explain why I bought Decaf Coffee two weeks ago:

coffee-decaf 1. My fear has come true: I realized I have a slight and rapidly growing dependence upon coffee. The timer on my coffee maker is too convenient not to use it every morning. And here’s the kicker: If my cup isn’t in my hand and if the last few sips aren’t spilling in my backpack (it happened again), I have a headache.

2. The worst let-down is when you finally get to tuck yourself in bed after a long night of studying. You’re anxious for your longed-for sleep but immediately realize the coffee supercharged more than your studying. It supercharged your ability to think of the most farfetched inventions, recall conversations from 3 years ago, and conjure up worries that no normal human being would even consider during normal hours.

Tonight needed to be prolonged a few hours so I tried to get the best of both worlds of coffee—Stay awake and then fall asleep on command.

Thus, I tried to trick myself. I made a cup of decaf coffee and tried my hardest to think of it as regular. However, since I poured the coffee beans and know they came from the decaf bag, I cannot get myself to fall for my own trick.

It’s not even midnight and my comfy bed is calling my name. This is the only time I wish I were more gullible.