Why the second coffee seems sensible

I don't want to start by telling you that caffeine is a drug. You know that, and it doesn't help, because so is paracetamol, and the word doesn't tell you what to do. There are good reasons why you drink coffee the way you do, and they deserve stating before anything is said against them.

It works. Twenty minutes after the cup, you feel better. This is not imagination, and any argument that begins by saying it is will lose you, rightly.

It's pleasant. Coffee smells good, tastes good, and comes with a small ritual of kettle and mug and a minute by the window. Tea is the same, with more of the ritual and less of the caffeine.

It's everywhere and it's allowed. There's no situation in ordinary life in which having a coffee is frowned on. It's the one drug you can take in a meeting.

It marks the day. The morning cup starts it, the afternoon cup breaks it, the after-dinner cup closes the meal. Take them away and the day loses some of its punctuation.

It's what everyone does. Most adults you know drink coffee, and most of them describe themselves as needing it. Being tired and reaching for a cup is one of the most normal things a person can do.

And the alternative seems to be being tired. If you're foggy at three and the meeting's at four, the coffee isn't a luxury. It's what gets you through.

I think the habit is trying to meet four needs, and this list is mine. You want to feel awake. You want a small pleasure and a pause. You want to get through the parts of the day that are hard. And you want not to feel like the tired person you've come to believe you are.

All four are reasonable. My argument is that the habit serves them badly. You don't feel awake. You feel less tired than you did twenty minutes ago, which isn't the same thing, and the tiredness you're escaping was partly made by yesterday's cups. The pleasure and the pause are real, and you can keep both without the reliance. The hard parts of the day are harder because of the night, and the night is where the coffee went. And you're not a tired person. You're a person who's been a little short of sleep for years and has a good explanation for it that isn't the right one.