I get quite irritable, and there's this unexplainable brain fog that makes me sluggish. Coffee obliterates all of that, and helps me get to my zone. How many of you go through this? Also, anybody quit caffeine, and lived to tell the tale? Haha! π
I've just about quit coffee.
At 1 point 3 or 4 years ago, I was having almost a pot a day (8 cups+). Got really obsessed with it; got a super fancy coffee machine that did everything right (temperature, water filter, etc...) - that's when I started having heart palpitations. Realized quickly enough it was the coffee causing that and got rid of that coffee machine, but stuck with the 4-8 cups a day.
It made me really irritable; hard to sleep - all the usual side effects.
I once tried cold turkey - no coffee - don't do that - it didn't work for me - headache's were amazing and irritability was higher then when I was on it and I quickly started drinking coffee again.
TBH, Cutting back to 2 cups a day was easy. I still have my first cup within an hour of waking up to make sure I don't start going through withdrawal.
I've now cut back to 1 cup a day for the most part - theres always coffee socially though - be it at a fancy dinner or a birthday party or etc... so it's never just 1 a day - period. Our society doesn't work like that. But 99% of the time, I'm down to 1 cup / day. I enjoy the taste of coffee (black, please) so I don't think I'll ever quit - but to much of anything is bad for you.
Now if I could just quit smoking, hahah.
I am not sure whether my liking coffee really is connected to what I do as a dev... it is nice and warm and comforting and it tastes fine. Could probably have been any hot drink? But I have come to associate it with good things. So that is probably why it adds awesomeness to my day!
Just having mine now!

I have >8 cups in day!! π
Mario Giambanco
Director of User Experience Development
Brody
Opera Singer, PHP Developer
I can't drink coffee because it gives me acid reflux, but I've become somewhat dependent on adderall in a similar manner. I definitely get fatigued as wears off and I definitely struggle to code efficiently without it.