How Much Coffee is Too Much?

<< Stimulants: Every culture's got 'em. A Bhotia woman's snuff bottle.


"How much coffee is too much?"

I tried to answer this question from last post's comments in another comment, but ran out of room. It's just as well--more people will see it this way.

In typical Ayurvedic fashion, the response is "for whom?" To which I must add, "what kind of coffee?" and "under what circumstances?" There's actually a lot to be said about coffee.

Americans certainly have a love/hate relationship with the stuff. I think the American coffee obsession has two main causes: first and more obviously, coffee stimulates us to gogogogogo. I think of coffee as being like hitting the turbo switch in a race car video game: you go faster, but you burn more fuel. I don't just mean food--coffee actually tends to suppress the appetite--but rather energy reserves. I'm an occasional coffee drinker, and I acutely feel the entire energy curve of coffee: a sharply peaking high, then a slow descent that can turn into a crash. For those with strong reserves of energy, this stimulation (the afterburner effect) can be sustainable for relatively long periods. But coffee is depleting to the system, and even those robust folks who can drink pots of it without getting the jitters would be well advised to take a break from it occasionally. (Green tea is a less harsh, more balanced alternative.)

Trouble arises when people use coffee to go into energy debt, tapping into their back-up reserves (their savings account, if you will). Being a rather sensitive individual, my system doesn't tolerate this kind of use at all. I can only enjoy coffee when I've gotten plenty of sleep and my stress level is low--and even then, a little goes a long way. Otherwise, I find that coffee doesn't actually give me an energy boost but rather scatters my energy. Coffee is light, heady, energy-dispersive, whereas tea can help consolidate one's energy with its astringency.

The second reason I think coffee is such a staple in the American diet is that we tend not to get enough bitter. Most cultures eat more greens, use more bitter spices and herbs, or drink herbal bitters regularly. We drink coffee. The problem is, coffee is not like other bitters. As just discussed, it can be fraying to the nerves. It's also rough on the liver, unlike most bitters that are liver-friendly. Still, coffee does provide some of the lightening benefits of the bitter taste in general, helping to counter the typical richness and sweetness of our diets.

So it depends very much on the individual. Everyone's answer will be different, but some patterns can be described: dry, skinny, overworked, stressed people (Vata-dominant types) should ideally avoid coffee (and tea) altogether. Failing that, they should avoid it in the morning, until after they've eaten and digested a meal. And they should have it with milk, which will help buffer the effects.
Hot-headed, driven, ambitious folks (Pitta-dominant people) should be careful, too. Coffee will tend to aggravate their already fiery characteristics. But this is the typical type-A profile, and these are the folks who just love coffee. Again, if they're not too stressed, well-rested, etc., they can usually tolerate it OK. For these people it should be sweetened with something wholesome, milk added, and preferably iced. Individual response is idiosyncratic, but in general a two cup daily limit should be observed.
Stockier people who tend to be sluggish in the morning (Kapha-dominant) tend to be least sensitive to coffee, and can actually benefit from its heating stimulation as well its bitterness. Coffee isn't necessarily the healthiest bitter even for them (these folks need plenty of greens and spices in their diets no matter what), but it is often well-tolerated by them for long periods of time. They can often drink it without negative effects as long as stress is low. However, these are the people who are apt to become most intensely dependent upon coffee.

The coffee trade is a problematic one, both in terms of the environment and economic/social justice. Buy shade-grown, fair-trade, organic coffee and support the health of the farmers and the planet--and yourself. Chemical residues in non-organic coffee are particularly nasty endocrine-disruptors and carcinogenic to boot. This is especially important advice for women, who are particularly vulnerable to xenoestrogens.

[Finally, Sam, I'd be happy to do a consultation but am not all that gung ho about Skyping Nepal. How does this sound--let's start with an email exchange--send me an introduction with concerns/questions and a brief health history--and we can schedule a phone date from there.]