Cutting Back on Caffeine with Chicory: The Tapering Approach

If you’re like most modern humans, it probably feels like your day only really begins when you're sipping on that first warm cup of coffee, anticipating the burst of energy you need to kick-start your productivity.

At the same time, you may have observed that your morning ray of hope also casts some less savoury shadows. The fire of enthusiasm gradually wanes, until you find yourself in the dull stupefaction of the midday (or mid-morning) slump, fleeing your desk for coffee #2. Sadly, like most sequels, it’s not quite as satisfying. The extra boost it gives you is short lived, and eventually you have to face those final hours of grinding, unfocused work, where the neurons in your noggin seem to be looking for any excuse to avoid the state of conscious flow you need to progress in your studies or career.

As chicory is caffeine free, you can safely drink it at night without any negative impact on sleep

All this is not to vilify coffee, only to point out that caffeine is a powerful compound, one that can be used in ways that are detrimental or beneficial. It can be argued that caffeine accelerated the scientific enlightenment, and no doubt it has played a role in inspiring many great works of art and literature.

At the same time, the way that caffeine hijacks our adenosine receptors and stimulates the production of noradrenaline, cortisol and ultimately dopamine can have powerful habit-forming and dependency-inducing effects.

Overindulgence in caffeine can lead you into a wired-and-tired cycle with negative physical, mental, and emotional effects that bleed into all areas of your life. This cycle can be very difficult to break free from, especially if you’re engaged in any kind of knowledge work. If you quit cold turkey, the days or even weeks off of caffeine may come with an unpleasant barrage of side effects.

Symptoms of Caffeine Withdrawal (Don’t Panic!)

Brain fog and poor concentration
Reduced motivation
Impaired general cognition
Headaches
Depression
Fatigue and sleepiness
Irritability
Mood disturbances
Anxiety
Impaired motor skills
Muscle aches and stiffness
Nausea and/or vomiting
Hot and cold spells

Withdrawal symptoms usually kick in within 24 hours but can take as long as 36 hours for some people. Depending on your health, genetics, lifestyle, and the extent of your previous addiction, these effects may last as little as 2 days or as long as 2 weeks.

That doesn’t sound like that long, but it can be a brutal period to endure when you have employers and colleagues who expect you to perform at your usual caffeinated level. Most of us can’t afford to be unproductive for weeks on end, and taking a holiday just to spend it feeling like an addled mess is far from an attractive proposition.

And even if you manage to make it through this challenging period, you’re likely to find that quitting coffee leaves a different kind of void. Rituals have power, and whether we are conscious of it or not many of us use the smell and taste of that first cup of coffee as a signal to our mind-body complex that it’s time to switch over into the focused state we need to be in to get things done.

The Tapering Approach

You can greatly reduce or eliminate the side effects of quitting cold turkey by tapering your daily dose. Depending on your current intake of coffee, you may want to do this in a couple of stages.

From Many to One (or Two)

If you’re currently drinking 5 or 6 cups of coffee a day, the method is simple. Once every few days (or once a week), cut out one of those cups. Continue to do this until you’re down to one or two cups a day.

Somewhere along this journey, you may encounter the ritual void mentioned above. Habits are powerful things, and even if you technically have the energy to keep going and knocking down daily tasks, you may crave the flavour, warmth, and richness of another cup of coffee.

The most common recommendation you’ll read is to substitute with decaf. This may be a solution for you, but it can have a couple of drawbacks.

Downsides of Quitting with Decaffeinated Coffee

Almost all decaf coffee still contains some caffeine — between 3 and 12mg per cup. As every fresh dose of caffeine stays in your system for up to 10 hours from ingestion, a cup of decaf at 5pm may still be affecting you well after midnight.
Decaffeinated coffee beans are a processed food. Depending on the quality of the decaf you’re buying, the processing involved may be relatively innocuous (soaking in water or liquid carbon dioxide) or can introduce synthetic solvents like ethyl acetate or methylene chloride to your morning brew.

This is where chicory comes in. The ground and roasted roots of the chicory plant can be used to prepare a warm, rich drink that tastes very similar to coffee — similar enough that it has often been used to bulk up or substitute for coffee in times when supply of the inimitable bean ran short. Chicory comes with a range of health benefits, many of which can counteract the more negative impacts of both caffeine intake and caffeine withdrawal.

The Benefits of Chicory

Improved digestion and mental health: Chicory is the richest natural source of inulin (not insulin), a kind of dietary fiber that is extremely beneficial to your gut microbiome and is described as a prebiotic. Chicory is known to promote good digestion, regulate appetite, and decrease the risk of gastroinstestinal diseases. Improving the composition of the microbiome and thus the health of the gut has been linked to improved cognitive function, mood, and mental health.
Improved insulin sensitivity: The natural chlorogenic acids (CGAs) in chicory can increase insulin sensitivity, improving your energy levels and decreasing symptoms of diabetes.
Broad protective properties: The sesquiterpene lactones (STLs) present in chicory roots and leaves are known to have antitumor, antimicrobial, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, antiprotozoal, and antiaging properties.
Anti-inflammatory effects: Both CGAs and STLs have also been studied for their ability to fight inflammation, the root cause of many common health disorders.

To add chicory to your routine, you'll want chicory that has been roasted and ground to a fine powder (such as Ancient Roots Chicory Drink). If you’re in the process of cutting down to that 1–2 cup mark, start replacing the cups of coffee you’d drink later in the day with cups of hot chicory.

Playing with Percentages

Whether your goal is zero cups a day or just finding your caffeinated sweet-spot, the method is the same. When preparing your beverage, reduce the coffee you use by a certain percentage (e.g., 20%), and replace the coffee you removed with an equal amount of chicory. This is easiest to do when you prepare your coffee in a plunger (also known as a French press). Every few days, further reduce the amount of coffee and increase the amount of chicory. Do this until you reach the point that is right for you.

As you gradually exchange the stimulant powers of coffee for the more soothing effects of chicory, expect to feel calmer as the peaks and valleys in your energy levels even out. Keep going, and you’ll mostly likely find that focus and flow become available to you over more of the day, rather than just in the compressed periods of euphoria a caffeine high provides.

Where to from Here?

Even if you don’t want to quit forever, it can be very beneficial to go 100% caffeine free for a few weeks. This will help you understand your real relationship to caffeine, and re-sensitise you if you plan to return to a more conscious relationship to the substance.

Some people who go through this process find that they don’t need caffeine at all, while others choose to use caffeine in small daily amounts or even reserve it for once-weekly sessions of heightened productivity and creative output.

You way also want to experiment with adding non-stimulating, cognition-enhancing compounds, such as adaptogenic herbs and functional mushrooms, into your daily beverage rituals. This is a great way to harness the power of habit to move yourself away from that all too common condition of fight or flight and towards a consistent, long term state of vibrant mental and physical health.

References & Resources

Chicory: Understanding the Effects and Effectors of This Functional Food: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912540/
Chemical Composition and Nutritive Benefits of Chicory (Cichorium intybus) as an Ideal Complementary and/or Alternative Livestock Feed Supplement: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5745685/