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I haven't given up coffee, but I've been trying to buy fair-trade coffee grown in Mexico or Central America and roasted locally. It's probably not as good as giving up coffee entirely, but that's just not going to happen.

Just curious, but why would you want locally roasted? If it's fair trade, I think it would be great to let the Mexicans or Central Americans get the value added labour....

I've pretty much given it up in favor of tea. After more than two years, I still couldn't drink it black, and I don't need extra sugar and cream! Tea's now my much preferred caffeine delivery method.

I don't drink coffee, but I do drink a lot of tea. For basic types I try to get organic fair trade, but unfortunately a lot of the flavored teas I drink aren't available that way. I don't know, maybe I should be learning to flavor my own?

Since the sustainability calculator didn't cover it, here's a link on why tea is destroying the earth: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/policy/agriculture_environment/commodities/tea/environmental_impacts/index.cfm

I was a serious addict-- I drank about the same amount as you each day (between 5-10 cups, depending). And I really really didn't want to give it up... but I knew, I just knew, that it was really bad for me. I always felt dehydrated and I always felt kinda jittery (though I'll tell you, I think I was more creative when I was jittery!).

I attended a yoga retreat in Mexico about 4 years ago where they didn't serve coffee and I just knew that was the time... so, I haven't had a cup since then. For a time I gave up liquid caffeine altogether and just drank herbal teas, but now I'm on caffeinated tea, which is a different kind of buzz, much gentler. And I have to tell you, I feel like a much calmer and less jumpy version of myself since the ban.

I do long for one, single, very very fine, cup of coffee... but for me, I think it's all or nothing.

Maybe I'm clueless (which is a distinct possibility), but I just don't get how organic, sustainable-growth coffee made at home (with a French press to avoid buying filters) is any more destructive to the planet than buying any other food stuff to be prepared at home.

For economic and green reasons, I'm giving up purchasing coffee drinks after Christmas, when my sister has promised to buy me a French press. (I can't stand the bitterness of drip coffee, although I wouldn't worry too much about filters myself cause they can go in the compost with the coffee grounds.) But I don't drink nearly as much coffee as you describe. A tall drink about 4 times a week is normal, less when I'm pinching pennies to buy some cool decor item for my apartment.

Now for the hard decision, sugar or splenda? It's temping to cut calories in a place where I don't taste the difference, but natural sugar is surely greener. Besides, splenda's marketing annoys me. I'm a chemist; do you know how many things I can make from sugar that taste nothing like sugar?

dancingspring, that is an interesting link on the sustainability of tea. makes me a little sad :(

i don't drink very much coffee - perhaps 3 cups a week. but i do use milk and sugar, and i do drink free office coffee (i.e. not fair trade) so that is probably not very good.

i am not sure about why making coffee at home is better than a store, but i can see why buying sustainable coffee is a good idea. perhaps making it at home uses fewer resources, because you're using a mug and presumably not using single-serving/use coffee stirrers and sugar?

and probably because you are buying a smaller volume of coffee than your local starbucks?

theninthcloud, something I wrote about on my tea blog last year, and that they hint at in the "better management practices" section of that link, is that Unilever (aka Lipton) is really pushing a more eco-sound growing process. When you consider what a huge market Lipton is, I think this has the potential to really decrease the impact of tea farming. So don't lose hope yet :)

I alternate coffee and tea but drink more tea so I'm probably even worse off than I thought! I guess I just need to focus on one caffeinated beverage -- and then a lot of water!

We really like our Toddy cold brew coffee maker. Very rich coffee, but much smoother than our French press. No paper filters, you don't heat water to brew, and the resulting coffee concentrate lasts for two weeks. You dilute it with cold or hot water or milk. It is supposed to be easier on sensitive stomachs, and extracts less caffeine from the beans. I love that it isn't used every day, so you don't have to keep a coffee maker on your counter all the time. It can be used to brew tea, but I haven't tried that yet.

http://www.toddycafe.com/shop/product.php?productId=67

(Preface of I love coffee and caffeine doesn't seem to impact my sleep, ever)

What about switching to herbal teas you can grow in a window box- sage, mint, etc? Try and drink something like that most days and in the evenings and then drink coffee only when you really need a pick me up?

I gave up coffee for about 6 months once, but only because I drank a huge cup I'd been craving all day immediately after leaving the hospital after arthroscopic knee surgery.

I spent the next 2 days lying on the couch with my leg elevated & a bucket next to me for the waves of general anesthesia-caused nausea that kept me utterly miserable. I couldn't even look at a cup of coffee without feeling sick for what seemed like forever. The first time I smelled it without feeling sick I felt re-born. I have so few vices left I can't afford to give up anything these days for fear I'll wake up in a convent.

i almost never drink coffee from a cafe (starbucks, the local cafe, etc.) i have one cup at home every morning and that's plenty to sustain me through the day. i can't give it up :) i did when i was pregnant and it was the first thing i added back to my postpartum life as soon as i could! heck, you only live once, right?